Verus Petroleum is pleased to announce the signing of a Sale & Purchase Agreement (SPA) for the acquisition of a 33.8% interest in the Wytch Farm oil field from Premier Oil. This acquisition adds approximately 5,000 boepd to Verus’s daily production. The Wytch Farm field is located on the south coast of England.

The transaction will be funded by a combination of equity and debt. Verus’s existing lender Nedbank Limited supports the transaction and the existing Reserves Based Lending (RBL) Facility will be amended to increase the facility amount to USD 300 million and to allow for the participation of several additional banks who are also supportive of the transaction.

Commenting on the deal, Verus’s CEO Alan Curran said:

“Verus is pleased to have signed the SPA with Premier Oil. This transaction builds upon our Boa acquisition earlier this year and materially increases our net production to around 7,000 boepd and reserves to approximately 26mmboe. The transaction is consistent with the Verus strategy of expanding our production base and cash flow. Both Boa and Wytch Farm are high quality, low cost, long life assets with strong cash generation. Verus will look to reinvest this cash flow in further production and development opportunities.”

The transaction is subject to the satisfaction or waiver of a number of conditions including Premier shareholder approval, pre-emption rights of existing joint venture partners and regulatory approvals, and is expected to complete by the end of 2017.

Verus is focused on the creation of value through the acquisition of high quality production assets and, over time, through increased exposure to development projects