VIENNA, Oct. 7 (UPI) -- Austrian energy company OMV said it sold off some of its stake in a North Sea oil and natural gas project to a Canadian rival to streamline its portfolio.
OMV closed on the sale of a 30 percent stake in the Rosebank project to Canadian company Suncor Energy. Suncor pays $50 million up front, with an additional consideration for up to $165 million.
Rosebank is situated northwest of the Shetland Islands and is in the preliminary stages of development. OMV said it has a design capacity that targets a production rate of about 100,000 barrels of crude oil and 80 million cubic feet of natural gas per day.
"The reduction of OMV's stake fits with its strategy of optimizing the upstream portfolio and becoming more efficient with regard to costs and investments," a spokesperson said in a statement emailed to UPI.
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Rosebank was included in a $2.6 billion deal with Norwegian energy company Statoil that OMV made in 2013.
OMV in August reported adjusted second-quarter profit was down 43 percent year-on-year to about $237 million and said cost reductions of $110 million will be completed by the end of this year, well ahead of schedule.
For Suncor, the company said adding Rosebank to its reserve base meant it held a stake in what it considered one of the best and largest undeveloped basins in the British waters of the North Sea.
The Canadian company recorded a second quarter loss of $428 million, compared with earnings of $686 million during the same period last year. For a reduced rate, the company agreed to lease a rig from Transocean for work in the deep waters off the Canadian coast starting in late 2017.
