PE Live: Hope remains for UKCS buyers

The landscape may look very different to when deals were struck. But it is not all bad news for those that acquired North Sea assets in recent years

“Obviously, the price decks used two years ago did not stress test for the huge fall in commodity price we are seeing today.” So says Geraldine Murphy, partner at investment bank Tudor, Pickering, Holt, speaking on a PE Live webcast on the future of the UK continental shelf (UKCS). As such, the flurry of deals that have seen a number of firms either exit or trim substantially their holdings in the basin, the expansion of smaller players and a raft of new entrants, are grappling with rather different economics than when the transactions were struck. But this does not necessarily translate into buyers’ regret across the board, according to the PE Live panellists.     Debt is a major issue, con