Private equity-backed Trident Energy will scour for oil and gas assets in Southeast Asia, focusing on midlife producing assets that can be redeveloped to create value, a senior executive told Reuters.
Set up by former senior executives of independent Anglo-French oil firm Perenco in September, London-based Trident Energy seeks to acquire onshore and offshore assets primarily in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia.
Trident Energy's management includes Perenco's former CEO Jean-Michel Jacoulot and Perenco's former CFO Eric Descourtieux.
"We believe there is a big midlife assets potential in Southeast Asia, mostly in Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia and also in Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines ... so it's a good time to invest," said Thibault d'Argent, Trident Energy's new business manager.
"We're looking at fields producing more than 15,000 barrels per day and with more than 50 million barrels of reserves."
The company has yet to make any acquisitions, but is looking mainly at developed assets where wells have been drilled but production is declining. Trident Energy aims to stabilize and optimize output and then resell the assets within five to 10 years, he said.
Private-equity firm Warburg Pincus LLC led a line of up to $500 million in equity to Trident Energy in 2016, and the firm is in talks with a sovereign fund to secure more funding, d'Argent said, declining to give more details.
Trident Energy is one of many private-equity-backed companies eyeing energy assets in Southeast Asia as the prolonged slump in crude prices has driven oil majors hungry for cash to divest or seek additional funds.
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