“We have finalised the acquisition of the upstream company KUFPEC Norway, which will provide us with an additional billion of gas per year. Thanks to this transaction, ORLEN Group’s production in Norway will increase to over 4 bcm this year. The raw material will reach Poland through the Baltic Pipe, increasing the country’s energy security”, said Daniel Obajtek, CEO of Orlen.

On 20 November 2023 Orlen announced that PGNiG Upstream Norway of the Orlen Group had entered into an agreement to acquire 100 per cent of the shares in KUFPEC Norway – a subsidiary of Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company k.s.c.c.

According to the news then, as a result of the acquisition of control over KUFPEC Norway, PGNIG Upstream Norway will increase its stake in the already exploited Gina Krog, Sleipner Vest, Sleipner Ost, Gungne and Utgard fields. The transaction was planned to be finalised by the end of 2023.

Orlen announced at the time that the purchase of the stake in KUFPEC Norway was to be financed entirely with funds generated by PGNiG Upstream Norway from its operations on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Earlier, Orlen also reported that the contractual price of the transaction was $445 million and included the value of the acquired deposits, as well as the value of KUFPEC Norway’s other assets, including cash, which was estimated at $200 million.

The acquired business includes, among other things, interests in five fields where the Orlen group is already producing.

Upon completion of the acquisition of KUFPEC, the ORLEN group will hold 94 licences on the Norwegian Continental Shelf. Considering recoverable resources, they will amount to approx. 400 million boe (barrel of oil equivalent), of which approximately 60 billion m3 are natural gas resources. Considering natural gas production, it is more than 4 bcm per year.

Adrian Andrzejewski