Austin in big North Sea payday

摘要

ANDREW Austin has just made about £66 million ($83 million) from what is likely the first ever socially distanced sale of a North Sea oil and gas company. Last week RockRose Energy, founded by Austin in 2015, announced it was being bought in a near-£250 million deal by privately held Viaro Energy, a London-headquartered subsidiary of energy trading group Viaro. The transaction has offered a glimmer of hope that some investors still have an appetite for the ageing North Sea basin despite the fierce headwinds of falling oil and gas prices and the Covid-19 pandemic. Austin told Upstream that Via-ro's initial approach was made in February, not long before the UK government introduced lockdown measures to halt the spread of coronavirus.