Riverstone Holdings will be one of three cornerstone investors in new Norway and UK-focused exploration and production (E&P) company Origo Exploration.
Riverstone and Barclays Natural Resource Investments (BNRI) will each contribute USD200 million of funding to Origo, while Singapore-based investment company Temasek will contribute an additional USD125 million.
The Riverstone commitment comprises USD133 million from Riverstone Global Energy and Power Fund V and USD67 million from Riverstone Energy Limited (REL).
Origo, headquartered in Stavanger, is led by Andrew Armour, Timothy Sullivan, Svein Ilebekk, Kent Høgseth and Ørjan Gjerde, all highly-experienced professionals from the E&P industry in Norway and the UK.
Origo will acquire exploration licences in the Norwegian and UK continental shelves through farm-ins, licence rounds and focused M&A activity. It plans to participate in the drilling of around 25 exploration wells over the next five years and, where appropriate, bring discoveries towards development and production.
Pierre Lapeyre and David Leuschen, co-founders of Riverstone, say: "We are very pleased to partner with one of the most successful exploration teams in the North Sea. Our equity commitment to Origo reflects the confidence that we have in Andrew, Svein, Tim and the rest of the team, as well as our belief in the potential for significant new discoveries in the Norwegian and UK Continental Shelves. The investment also provides additional scale and diversification to REL’s asset base.”
