ATHENS: Hungary’s MOL Group has made its first acquisition in Norway by buying Ithaca Petroleum Norge (IPN).
MOL says the acquisition will double the size of its oil exploration portfolio, adding an estimated 600m bbl of net unrisked prospective reserves. The deal includes 14 licenses in the Norwegian Continental Shelf, three of which are currently operated by IPN.
“Entering Norway as one of the most investor friendly countries is an important milestone in our E&P Strategy,” said Alexander Dodds, the MOL group’s executive vice-president for upstream. “Norway will become a key exploration hub for MOL Group in the future and will help us achieve our goal of becoming an offshore operator in the North Sea.
“We believe Norway has a best in class approach to exploration, and we know that the new MOL Norge has an excellent team in place.” MOL Norge will continue as a Norwegian company and all staff will become part of the new entity, the group said.
