On Sept. 16 the Alaska Industrial Development and Export Authority’s board passed a resolution approving the negotiation and execution of a debt settlement/restructuring agreement and authorizing the sale of the Mustang oil field leases to Finnex LLC.
The resolution also allowed AIDEA to provide financing to Finnex, subject to certain conditions.
AIDEA, which had earlier foreclosed on the Mustang assets (a gravel pad, road, pipelines, related facilities and State of Alaska leases), has been working with other Mustang creditors and the working interest owners to settle various outstanding debts in an attempt to restructure the project into a viable enterprise.
Anchorage-based Finnex is an affiliate of Thyssen Petroleum Alaska LLC, which in turn is an affiliate of Mustang working interest owner TP North Slope Development LLC. All the companies appear to be owned by Houston-based Thyssen Petroleum USA LLC.
AIDEA’s executive director and staff, who have been working with the creditors and owners, recommended the board approve the resolution, which was passed by the unanimous consent of board members.
Mustang, which is in the Southern Miluveach unit adjacent to the southwest edge of the Kuparuk River unit, is the first oil field on Alaska’s North Slope to have been taken from discovery to production by a small independent oil company - Brooks Range Petroleum Corp., or BRPC.
BRPC drilled the Mustang discovery well, North Tarn 1A, in January 2012. The field is thought to hold 21.2 million barrels of proven oil in place.
Mustang began producing oil in early November 2019, per the Alaska Oil and Gas Conservation Commission. The field produced 10,999 barrels of oil that month, averaging 478 barrels a day for the 23 days it was in production.
Due to financial difficulties the field has been offline ever since and was scheduled to be sold at auction Sept. 23 if a deal could not be worked out.
Back to original owners
When BRPC announced the Mustang discovery in 2012, it needed help to bring the field into production, which arrived in mid-2014 when JK E&P Group Pte. Ltd., Thyssen Petroleum North Slope Development LLC and MEP Alaska LLC acquired BRPC and a package of North Slope properties from Alaska Venture Capital Group and Ramshorn Investments Inc. for $450 million.
Later BRPC brought in Singapore-based Caracol Petroleum, which reneged on loan obligations to AIDEA that ultimately led to foreclosure.
In a May 21 email Majid Jourabchi, currently chief operating officer of Thyssen Petroleum USA per the firm’s website, addressed reports that he was part of a team attempting to buy majority ownership in Mustang from investors in Caracol, as well as restart shut-in oil production later this year.
“We’re trying to bring ownership back to the North Slope,” Jourabchi told Petroleum News in the email. “We are trying to simplify the ownership and to refocus the operations.”
Finnex formed in June
Finnex was formed June 23, per its creation filing with Alaska’s Division of Corporations.
The company’s address is listed as 5120 Woodway Drive, Houston, Texas, which matches that of Thyssen Petroleum.
Its registered agent is Harry Bockmeulen, who is also a BPRC vice president; its organizer is Jourabchi.
Finnex’s mailing and physical address in Anchorage is 301 Calista Court.
The officials and ownership of Finnex are listed as Thyssen Petroleum Alaska LLC 85% and Galactico LLC 15%.
Thyssen Petroleum
According to oilmonster.com, “Thyssen Petroleum, founded in 2011, is a small privately-held oil and natural gas exploration and production company with production in Louisiana and Alaska. The company is securely financed by the holding company of the Thyssen-Bornemisza family, one of Europe’s oldest and most distinguished industrial families. It owns a major shareholding in the NYSE-listed IHS Markit Ltd., the critical information provider to the oil and gas industry.”
Thyssen Petroleum has 11 employees.
