{"id":944,"date":"2014-04-27T20:29:51","date_gmt":"2014-04-27T17:29:51","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/oilnewskenya.com\/?p=944"},"modified":"2015-09-02T21:23:48","modified_gmt":"2015-09-02T21:23:48","slug":"ophir-in-bid-to-buy-premier-oil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/ophir-in-bid-to-buy-premier-oil\/","title":{"rendered":"Ophir Energy in bid to buy Premier Oil"},"content":{"rendered":"

Source: The Sunday Times<\/a><\/p>\n

Ophir Energy is said to have approached Premier Oil with two secret bids to create a 5 billion combined oil exploration group, The Sunday Times reports citing an unnamed source.<\/p>\n

Premier Oil\u2019s board is however said to have turned down the offer as does not offer the company better strategic interest in a meeting held two weeks ago.<\/p>\n

\u201cA proposal was carefully considered but rejected as not a strategic fit and not in the best interests of shareholders.\u201d The Sunday Times quotes a source.<\/p>\n

Although neither the Scottish company nor Ophir have commented on the matter the report says that the new firm that would operate in East Africa and Asia as well as the Falklands would make the new outfit among the top 5 largest companies in London after BP, Shell, BG and Tullow Oil.<\/p>\n

The report says the two companies could result make a statement in regards to the deal today to the FTSE following the leak of the information to the public and a reaction of the stock market with Premier\u2019s shares rising following the news.<\/p>\n

It is said that Ophir Energy has approached Premier since February when the latter\u2019s CEO Simon Lockett announced its stepping down after nine years at the helm of the company saying he was “looking forward to pursuing new business opportunities.”<\/p>\n

Premier Oil has its activities in the region in Kenya after signing of two PSCs for offshore exploration blocks L10A and L10B in 2011 and also has interest in Block 2B which has the Pearl project.<\/p>\n

Ophir Energy on the other hand has interest in Tanzania in Blocks 1, 3 and 4 and earlier this year hit a dry hole at the Mlinzi Mbali-1 site.<\/p>\n

Ophir Energy is however yet to get into the Ugandan market after the Ugandan government stopped its plans to take over Dominion\u2019s assets in the country for not following the specified procedure for transfer of assets in the energy sector.<\/p>\n

Ophir also has interests in Kenya in the Block L9 exploration block was originally awarded in May 2011 with Dominion Petroleum Kenya (a wholly owned subsidiary of Ophir Energy following an acquisition worth $186 million).<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Source: The Sunday Times Ophir Energy is said to have approached Premier Oil with two secret bids to create a 5 billion combined oil exploration group, The Sunday Times reports … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":945,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6,11],"tags":[234,346,618,1027,1607,1926,1984,2071,2297,2522,2571],"class_list":["post-944","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-by-others","category-top-news","tag-bg","tag-bp","tag-dominion-petroleum","tag-goldman-sachs","tag-mlinzi-mbali-1","tag-ophir-energy","tag-pearl-project","tag-premier-oil","tag-shell","tag-the-sunday-times-ophir-energy","tag-tullow-oil","entry"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/ophir.jpg?fit=303%2C166&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5JWkQ-fe","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":948,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/ophir-energy-confirms-it-approached-premier-oil-for-merger\/","url_meta":{"origin":944,"position":0},"title":"Ophir Energy confirms it approached Premier Oil for merger","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"April 28, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"The Ophir Energy board has released a statement confirming that it recently made an approach to the board of Premier Oil with the aim of merging the two companies. According to the ophir Energy board a merger between the two would provide the potential to create a well-funded, re-focussed, full\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Oil Politics"","block_context":{"text":"Oil Politics","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/oil-politics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1994,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/ophir-confirms-offer-to-salamander-energy\/","url_meta":{"origin":944,"position":1},"title":"Ophir confirms offer to Salamander Energy","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"November 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Following Salamander's announcement on 27 October 2014, the Board of Ophir Energy plc has confirmed that a letter was subsequently sent to the Board of Salamander confirming the proposed terms of its possible share exchange offer for the entire issued and to be issued share capital of Salamander. Ophir confirms\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":322,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/tough-luck-for-ophir-oil-exploration-in-tanzania\/","url_meta":{"origin":944,"position":2},"title":"Tough luck for Ophir oil exploration in Tanzania","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"January 3, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Ophir Energy plc has announced that drilling operations have now concluded on the Mlinzi Mbali-1 well in Block 7*, Tanzania. Ophir has an 80% net interest. The well was located c.210km east of Dar es Salaam and was drilled by the Deepsea Metro I drillship. Mlinzi Mbali-1 is the first\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "New Discoveries"","block_context":{"text":"New Discoveries","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/new-discoveries\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":886,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/seychelles-signs-final-approval-for-whl-farmout-to-ophir-energy\/","url_meta":{"origin":944,"position":3},"title":"Seychelles signs final approval for WHL farmout to Ophir Energy","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"April 16, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"[twitter-follow screen_name='oilnewskenya'] Australian energy company\u00a0WHL Energy\u00a0has announced that the Republic of the Seychelles has signed formal documentation approving\u00a0Ophir Energy\u2019s\u00a0previously reported* farm-in to WHL Energy\u2019s large offshore Seychelles exploration position. Under the agreement Ophir is farming-in to earn a 75% interest in\u00a0WHL Energy\u2019s offshore Seychelles petroleum exploration project area. Vice-President Danny\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/seychelles1.jpg?fit=749%2C441&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/seychelles1.jpg?fit=749%2C441&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/seychelles1.jpg?fit=749%2C441&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/04\/seychelles1.jpg?fit=749%2C441&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":643,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/whl-energy-signs-seychelles-farm-in-agreement-with-ophir-energy\/","url_meta":{"origin":944,"position":4},"title":"WHL Energy signs Seychelles farm-in agreement with Ophir Energy","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"March 4, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Australian energy company WHL Energy Limited has signed a farm-in agreement with Ophir Energy plc under\u00a0which Ophir will farm-in to earn a 75% interest in WHL Energy\u2019s exploration interests offshore the\u00a0Seychelles. Under the terms of the farm-in, Ophir will fully fund the acquisition of 1,500km2 of 3D seismic, up to\u00a0a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Top News"","block_context":{"text":"Top News","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/top-news\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/03\/seychelles.jpg?fit=472%2C421&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":108,"url":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/ophir-contemplates-1-3bn-tanzania-offshore-blocks-sale-to-pavilion\/","url_meta":{"origin":944,"position":5},"title":"Ophir contemplates $1.3bn Tanzania offshore blocks sale to Pavilion","author":"Samuel Kamau Mbote","date":"December 5, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Story by: The East African - Shareholders of oil and gas explorer Ophir Energy will in the next two weeks in London vote on whether the company should sell a 20 per cent stake in three key blocks off the shore of Tanzania to Singapore based Pavilion Energy. The London\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "News by others"","block_context":{"text":"News by others","link":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/category\/news-by-others\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=944"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3355,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/944\/revisions\/3355"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/945"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=944"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=944"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.oilnewskenya.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=944"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}