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Murphy Oil Corporation MUR recently announced that its unit has entered into a Purchase and Sale Agreement to acquire the BW Pioneer floating production storage and offloading vessel (“FPSO”) from BW Offshore.
The gross purchase price of the FPSO is pegged at $125 million and is included in Murphy Oil’s 2025 capital expenditure outlook in the range of $1,135 million to $1,285 million. This FPSO is currently located in the prolific Wilcox Region and BW Offshore will continue to provide operations and maintenance services under a new five-year reimbursable contract.
Benefits of Murphy Oil From This Acquisition
Through the acquisition of the FPSO from BW Offshore and the restructuring of its existing contract, MUR will achieve a material reduction in annual operating costs of nearly $60 million.
The FPSO will remain at its current location, supporting operations at the Cascade field (Walker Ridge 206 and 250) and Chinook field (Walker Ridge 469 and 425) in the Gulf of America.
The FPSO plays a crucial role in the development of offshore oil and gas projects and reduces the operating costs substantially compared with the fixed platforms. This assists the operators in cost-effective oil extraction, processing, storage and transportation without the need for extensive pipelines.
FPSOs can be moved to new locations, avoiding the need for costly, permanent infrastructure and allowing for the exploitation of multiple oil fields. These are equipped with facilities to process crude oil, separate it from water and gas, and store the processed oil in tanks for later offloading to shuttle tankers. Apart from existing producing wells in the region, Murphy has several exploration prospects across 58 blocks in the Gulf of America and can make utilization of this FPSO when the need arises.
The acquisition of FPSOs provides additional advantages to the oil and gas operators, and that has prompted ExxonMobil XOM to acquire a FPSO vessel, Prosperity, from SBM Offshore in 2024 for $1.23 billion. This FPSO is currently operating at the Payara field in Guyana's Stabroek block. ExxonMobil is expected to continue developing the Payara field and the Prosperity FPSO will play a key role in this development.
MUR’s Long-Term Plan
In the past several months, the company has been trying to transform through acquisitions, divestitures and oil-weighted discoveries. The focus on developing high-margin liquid assets is evident from the production mix. Murphy Oil has been exploring new opportunities in its international assets. The company drilled an oil discovery at Hai Su Vang-1X exploration well in offshore Vietnam with an appraisal well planned for the third quarter of 2025 and is preparing to spud-operated Lac Da Hong-1X exploration well in offshore Vietnam in first-quarter 2025.
MUR’s Canadian assets are also boosting production. Murphy Oil’s Tupper Montney asset in Canada is one of the leading low-cost operating assets in North America. Management will bring 10 wells online in Tupper Montney in 2025 and four wells in Kaybob Duvernay. All these wells are expected to boost production. Courtesy of the existing multi-basin assets, Murphy Oil is expecting 2025 production volumes in the range of 1,74,500-1,82,500 Boe/d, excluding NCI.