King & Spalding Advises Ophir Energy on $205 Million Southeast Asian Acquisition

King & Spalding represented London-listed upstream oil and gas company Ophir Energy on its agreement to acquire a package of Southeast Asian assets from Australian-listed Santos Limited for an aggregate cash consideration of $205 million (pre-working capital adjustments).

The upstream assets include:

• 31.875% in the Block 12W PSC2 (Chim Sáo and Dua oil fields), Vietnam;
• 67.5% in the Madura Offshore PSC (Maleo and Peluang gas fields), Indonesia;
• 45% in the Sampang PSC (Oyong and Wortel gas fields), Indonesia;
• 20% in the Deepwater Block R PSC (Bestari oil discovery), Malaysia;
• 45% in the SS-11 PSC, Bangladesh;
• 50% in Block 123 PSC and 40% in Block 124 PSC, Vietnam.

Four of these assets are operated, including three long-term production fields in Indonesia (Madura and Sampang) and Vietnam (12W). The remaining fields in Vietnam, Malaysia and Bangladesh are in the exploration phase. 

Due to Santos’ complex holding structure, the transaction required the negotiation of five different share or asset sale and purchase agreements.

More details on the transaction can be found here.

The King & Spalding team advising Ophir was led by Singapore partner Richard Nelson with support from associates Kristian Whitaker and Zoë Bromage. Singapore partner Merrick White and senior associate Nat Rowe also provided support to the core team.