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Jadestone Energy PLC on Thursday said it has terminated its acquisition of the Maari project in New Zealand due to lack of guidance on the regulatory approvals required to complete the deal.
On November 16, 2019, the Singapore-based oil and gas production company made a sale and purchase agreement with OMV New Zealand Ltd to acquire a 69% interest in the project. Maari is New Zealand's largest crude oil field, situated 80 kilometres off the South Taranaki coast.
However, legislative changes to New Zealand's upstream regulatory framework at the end of 2021 complicated the acquisition process.
In its 2022 half-year report, Jadestone Energy said that despite efforts to engage OMV and the New Zealand government on the processes, terms and associated timeline required to complete the transaction, it remained unclear under what circumstances and in what timeframe it could transfer operations.
The company on Thursday said it has now decided to terminate the sale and purchase, due to a lack of progress on regulatory approvals.
It said it could not continue to spend time and resources on Maari, despite the project representing an opportunity to make new investments in currently producing oil and gas fields while energy security is at a premium.
"Nearly three years after the acquisition was first announced, and with an upcoming licence expiry in 2027, this leaves insufficient time to confidently invest in the asset and therefore, despite our best efforts, it is now time to move on," said Chief Executive Officer Paul Blakeley.
"The asset is now unlikely to see the type and scale of inward investment that had been planned by Jadestone."
In other news, Jadestone said it was making good progress on additional projects. It now has a clearer path to completing repairs on the Montara Venture floating production, storage and offloading vessel, while the Stag infill drilling programme is progressing well.
The completion of the North West Shelf oil acquisition from BP PLC is still expected this quarter, as is the acquisition of the remaining 10% interest in the Lemang production sharing contract.
Jadestone Energy shares were trading 4.3% lower at 67.00 pence each in London on Thursday morning.
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