NORTH Sea-focused Longboat Energy has said it is in the running for a number of acquisitions amid the upheaval triggered by the coronavirus crisis.
The company said it is participating in a number of potential acquisition processes, around 15 months after it was launched by former members of the team that grew Faroe Petroleum into one of the leading North Sea independents.
Longboat expects to capitalise on what it describes as the “continuing market dislocation” in the North Sea. A range of firms have decided to slash investment in the area and put assets up for sale in response to the fall in oil and gas prices that has followed the introduction of lockdowns around the world.
The UK Government will today unveil a North Sea Transition Deal which it reckons will support the oil and gas industry’s shift to clean, green energy amid the resulting downturn while supporting 40,000 jobs.
It said the landmark deal is designed to help the UK becomes a clean energy leader while ensuring oil and gas workers are not left behind in the irreversible shift away from fossil fuels.
Aberdeen-based Faroe was acquired by Norway’s DNO for £640 million in January 2019 through a hostile takeover.
Former chief executive Graham Stewart and other Faroe veterans launched Longboat in the expectation they could use acquisitions to build another significant business fairly quickly.
The company noted it faced complications last year.
“In 2020 we experienced unprecedented changes to all aspects of society and the global economy, with the energy sector particularly hard hit by an unprecedented fall in demand. This resulted in the global upstream M&A deal count reaching a 20-year low,” said Longboat.
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The market appears to have picked up amid the rally in crude prices since November. This followed good news on the coronavirus vaccine front.
Longboat said: “This year has seen oil prices stabilizing at a much higher level and with vaccination programmes being rolled out the transaction market is already looking more positive.”
The company expects more assets to come to market as vendors seek to take advantage of the “uptick” in commodity prices.
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However the Brent crude price has fallen in recent days, after countries such as Germany decided to impose new lockdowns.
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