Doris Leblond
OGJ Correspondent

PARIS, Sept. 5 -- GDF Suez has opened exclusive negotiations with Nederlandse Aardolie Maatschappij BV (NAM) to acquire for €1.075 billion a package of assets located along the Northern Offshore Gas Transport (Nogat) pipeline. The assets cover oil and gas exploration, production, and transportation in the Dutch section of the North Sea, where GDF Suez would become the leading exploration and production operator.

The package includes 30-60% working interest in five producing fields, as well as potential additional volumes in existing fields and discoveries and promising exploration potentials. Equity production currently amounts to some 3.3 million boe/year.

The package also involves a stake in the Dutch section A6-F3 pipeline, which carries gas from the German North Sea to the Nogat pipeline system, and a 30% stake in Nogat BV, the company that owns and operates the Nogat transportation system.
According to Jean-Marie Daugier, GDF Suez's executive vice-president in charge of Global Gas LNG, the package will "increase our medium term resources in the Netherlands by 30%," building on GDF Suez' local affiliate GDF Production Nederland BV (ProNed). ProNed in 2008 produced 5.25 billion cu m of gas from 19 offshore fields through more than 30 production facilities. It is a main shareholder and operator of the NGT pipeline which carries and processes a major part of Holland's offshore gas production.