Ophir Energy plc was an oil and gas exploration and production company based in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. It owned both operating and non-operating assets in Africa, Asia, and Mexico.

History

The company was founded by Alan Stein and Jonathan Taylor in 2004 with backing from

Tokyo Sexwale Mosima Gabriel "Tokyo" Sexwale (; born 5 March 1953) is a South African businessman, politician, anti-apartheid activist, and former political prisoner. Sexwale was imprisoned on Robben Island for his anti-apartheid activities, alongside figur ...

. It was listed on the

London Stock Exchange London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...

in July 2011. In March 2014, Ophir Energy sold its 20% stake in its

Tanzanian Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands and ...

assets for around $1.2 billion to Pavilion Energy. On 2 March 2015 Ophir Energy purchased

Salamander Energy Salamander Energy was a British-based oil and gas exploration and production business. Its activities were focused on South East Asia. It was headquartered in London and was listed on the London Stock Exchange until March 2015 when it was acquire ...

. In 2017, the company conducted massive layoffs with addition to restructure the organization due to harsh market conditions. In 2018, Ophir has agreed to acquire a package of Southeast Asian assets from

Santos Limited Santos Ltd. (South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search) is an Australian oil and gas exploration and production company, with its headquarters in Adelaide, South Australia. It owns liquefied natural gas (LNG), pipeline gas, and oil assets. ...

, an Australian listed Oil & Gas company for a total of $205 million. The portfolio of assets includes producing assets in Vietnam and Indonesia plus exploration assets in Malaysia and Bangladesh. The Transaction is in line with Ophir’s stated strategy of rebalancing its portfolio towards a larger production and cash flow base to support the refocused exploration portfolio. In May 2019, Ophir was acquired by

MedcoEnergi PT Medco Energi Internasional Tbk or MedcoEnergi is an Indonesian oil and gas company. The company operates in Trading and Holding & Related Operations, Exploration for and Production of Oil & Gas, Power, Services, Chemicals and Rental of prope ...

in a deal valued at £408.4 million ($517.6 million). This step further reflected Ophir's previous objective to be more focused on Asian Producing Assets as well as minimizing exposure to high risk exploration portfolios. The acquisition has made the expanded company one of the largest independent E&P company in South East Asia.

Operations

The company owns Fortuna Floating

Liquified Natural Gas Liquefied natural gas (LNG) is natural gas (predominantly methane, CH4, with some mixture of ethane, C2H6) that has been cooled down to liquid form for ease and safety of non-pressurized storage or transport. It takes up about 1/600th the volu ...

project in Equatorial Guinea, the first of its kind in Africa which is due to produce its first gas in 2020. In Tanzania, it participates in the planned LNG project together with Tanzanian Government through

Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation The Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation (Swahili: ''Shirika la Maendeleo ya Petroli Tanzania'') is the national oil company of Tanzania and owner of all licenses for energy development in the country. The company was established through the ...

BG Group BG Group plc was a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in Reading, United Kingdom. On 8 April 2015, Royal Dutch Shell announced that it had reached an agreement to acquire BG Group for $70 billion, subject to regulatory and ...

(a division of

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yo ...

Statoil Equinor ASA (formerly Statoil and StatoilHydro) is a Norwegian state owned enterprise, state-owned multinational energy company headquartered in Stavanger. It is primarily a petroleum company, petroleum company, operating in 36 countries with ad ...

, and

Exxon Mobil ExxonMobil Corporation (commonly shortened to Exxon) is an American multinational oil and gas corporation headquartered in Irving, Texas. It is the largest direct descendant of John D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil, and was formed on November 30, ...

References

External links

* {{Authority control Companies based in the City of Westminster Non-renewable resource companies established in 2004 Oil companies of the United Kingdom Companies listed on the London Stock Exchange 2011 initial public offerings Defunct oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom