Rockhopper Exploration PLC has announced the acquisition of a range of non-operated production and exploration interests from Beach Energy Ltd in Egypt under a revised agreement.

Rockhopper, before now owns assets in the North Falkland Basin and in the Mediterranean region. The company said the assets will be procured from Beach Energy for $11.9 million in cash, to be paid when completed.

The company had initially agreed on the terms for the procurement from Beach in August last, but the agreement had been amended as a result of the implementation of pre-emption rights on one of the concessions.

When completed, the agreement will grant Rockhopper a 22% interest in the Abu Sennan concession as well as a 25% interest in the El Qa'a Plain concession.

Furthermore, Rockhopper has signed an agreement with Dover Petroleum Corp to farm-out a 5.0% interest in the Abu Sennan concession, which will reduce Rockhopper's interest to 17%.

The exploration and production company is confident that the deal will be completed in mid-2016 and estimated working interest output from the two licences to be approximately 1,000 boepd.

“A patient approach to this transaction has paid dividends for Rockhopper, and we are delighted to have reached agreement with Beach on the amended terms of the acquisition of Beach Egypt. We believe this deal is a strategically important step, perfectly suited to the current economic environment for the industry, where low cost, cash generative assets are increasingly important. With low unit cash operating costs at approx. US$8 per barrel in 2015, we expect this portfolio to be net cash flow positive, even in the current oil price environment, and upon completion of the transaction expect operating cash flows from Egypt and our existing Italian assets to broadly cover Group overheads going forward,” Sam Moody (photo), Rockhopper's chief executive told Energy-pedia.

Anita Fatunji