Dana Petroleum plc (‘Dana’), a wholly owned subsidiary of the Korea National Oil Corporation (‘KNOC’) has reached an agreement with Hess Corporation (‘Hess’) to acquire Hess’ 28.3% interest in the Bittern field, increasing Dana’s share to 33%.

As a result of the transaction Hess will resign the affiliated operatorship of the Triton floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel and Dana has indicated its desire to operate the facility.

Under KNOC, Dana is focused on increasing production and reserves in the UK and internationally while positioning Dana as a partner of choice in its chosen markets.

The transaction will add a further 2 mmboe per year to Dana’s UK production, with 5,500 boepd expected in 2012. This will bring our total UK production volume to 17 mmboe per year in 2012, an increase of 14% on 2011.

Dana Petroleum’s Group Chief Executive Officer, Dr Marcus Richards said:
“This is a significant deal for Dana, which supports our goal to double production to more than 100,000 boepd by 2016, as we strive to become a leading international oil and gas company operating in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
“This acquisition consolidates Dana’s existing position in these high-quality assets. The synergies realised from Dana’s desire to operate both the Greater Guillemot Area subsea facilities and the Triton FPSO will help us maximise value from our interests in the Central North Sea.

“We have made extensive preparations, working closely with Hess, to enable a smooth transition should Dana become the new operator of the Triton FPSO.”

The Bittern field is located around 200km east of Aberdeen in the Central North Sea. The Bittern Field partners are Dana (33%), Shell UK Ltd (25%), Shell EP Offshore Ventures (14.6%), Endeavour (2.4%) and ExxonMobil (25%).