Hilcorp Completes $1B Purchase of Eni’s North Slope Assets
Photo Credit: Alaska Business
Hilcorp is consolidating its North Slope position by acquiring two near-offshore units developed by Italian energy company Eni SpA. The companies announced in June that Oooguruk and Nikaitchuq would change hands, and they completed the $1 billion deal on Monday.
Arrivederci, Eni
The transaction, which the companies say received the approval of all relevant authorities, is in line with Eni’s strategy focused on the rationalization of the upstream activities by rebalancing its portfolio and divesting non-strategic assets.
Texas-based Hilcorp has become Alaska’s second-largest oil producer (after ConocoPhillips) since acquiring Cook Inlet assets in 2011 and BP’s ownership shares and operator responsibilities on the North Slope in 2014. The company said in June a polymer flooding technology that has enhanced oil recovery at the Milne Point unit could be applied to Eni’s two mature fields immediately to the west.
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Oooguruk began production in 2008, developed by Pioneer Natural Resources. Eni took over in 2019. Located in shallow waters between the Colville River delta and a small barrier island, a 6-acre gravel pad delivers more than 2 million barrels of oil annually via a 5.7-mile pipeline to shore. Nikaitchuq began production in 2011 and yields more than 6 million barrels of oil equivalent per year. The unit includes the Oliktok Production Pad at the northernmost road-connected point in North America and a cluster of offshore wells near a barrier island, connected by a 3.8-mile undersea pipeline.
Together, the Oooguruk and Nikaitchuq fields produce about 22,000 barrels of crude oil per day. They add to Hilcorp’s net production of about 135,000 barrels per day and make the company the largest offshore producer on the North Slope.
While exiting Alaska, Eni plans to maintain a North American presence with upstream assets in the Gulf of Mexico while also investing in renewables, biofuels, and magnetic confinement nuclear fusion.
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