Norway’s Statoil has agreed to acquire JX Nippon’s 45% equity share in, and operatorship of, the UK licence for the Utgard field.

On conclusion of this transaction Statoil will increase its holding in UK licence P312 to 100%, having previously acquired stakes from First Oil in October 2015 and Talisman Sinopec in December 2015. Statoil is the operator in NCS licence PL046 with a 62% holding.

Utgard, previously known as Alfa Sentral, is a gas and condensate field spanning the UK-Norway median line. It is planned to be developed as a tie-back to existing infrastructure on the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS) for Sleipner, which Statoil operates.

A final investment decision for Utgard is planned before end-2016 with production start-up in 2020.