Seacrest Capital Group have partnered with OKEA AS, a new oil and gas development and production company that is headquartered in Trondheim, Norway. OKEA will focus on developing discovered oil and gas fields on the Norwegian continental shelf to create a material development and production focussed Norwegian oil and gas company. Seacrest will initially invest up to $200m in OKEA.
OKEA is led by Erik Haugane, an industry veteran, who has more than 30 years’ experience in the sector, and Ola Borten Moe, the former Norway Minister for Petroleum and Energy. OKEA’s management team also includes Anton Tronstad and Knut Evensen, who have a long history of working with Erik at Det norske oljeselskap, which was co-founded by Erik and Anton. At Det norske Anton held the position of SVP, Drilling while Knut was VP, Business Development and Interim CFO. Erik and his team will work alongside Seacrest to identify large scale investment opportunities in the Norwegian Continental Shelf area.
OKEA’s strategy is to unlock the value of conventional oil and gas discoveries by applying innovative partnerships, dynamic strategies and cost effective development solutions to bring existing discoveries into production in a timely, cost-effective and low-risk manner.
Henrik Schroder, Partner, Seacrest Capital Group and Chairman, OKEA AS, commented:
“Seacrest is attracted to the Norwegian Continental Shelf given current market dynamics, combining the availability of development and production projects, the favourable pricing of these assets, the material reduction in the cost structure of the industry and an attractive fiscal environment which protects downside risk.
We are excited to partner with the OKEA team, who combine operational and technical experience with a history of innovation to create value for all stakeholders. Erik has assembled a world-class team representing the breadth of expertise and experience required to fulfil OKEA’s objectives.
We look forward to working with the team to identify and develop investment opportunities and to build out an attractive material portfolio of developed production assets.”
Erik Haugane, CEO of OKEA AS, commented:
“We are delighted to be partnering with investors of the calibre and experience of Seacrest Capital Group. We look forward to working with them to establish a major new development and production company in this prolific petroleum producing region.
We have a highly experienced, committed and skilled team with the ability to deliver our investment strategy. Seacrest’s focus, resources and long-term commitment is a perfect fit to enable OKEA to become a major Norwegian oil and gas company.”
“There are numerous discovered fields in Norway that have huge potential value but are not producing today. The OKEA team has expertise in successfully delivering oil and gas projects through rigorous planning, the creation of powerful relationships with all project stakeholders, using innovative and cost-effective technological advances and development strategies. OKEA will use this expertise to unlock the maximum commercial potential in projects offshore Norway.”
