Elliott Management, a private investment firm founded in 1977 and its affiliates, has announced an initial investment of up to USD 500 million to fund the management team of newly established Norwegian oil and gas company, Edge Petroleum AS. The company will focus on creating a portfolio of oil and gas fields in the development phase, supported by production and near-field exploration, on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.

Edge will be led by Norwegian industry veterans Bjørn Inge Tønnessen and Walter Sognnes. Sognnes was one of the founders of Revus Energy in 2003, a successful full cycle oil company subsequently acquired by Wintershall in 2008. Tønnessen and Sognnes were two of the founders of Spike Exploration in 2012, now part of Point Resources.

Bjørn Inge Tønnessen, CEO, is convinced that the timing for starting a new oil company in Norway is favourable: “We currently see several interesting market opportunities. Many new and old discoveries are now going into the development phase, and more are expected in the years to come. Being backed by a financially strong investor like Elliott, we believe we can benefit from this situation and build a valuable oil company.”

Iain Gunn, Portfolio Manager at Elliott, emphasises that it is Edge’s unique blend of oil and gas industry knowledge and expertise, combined with proven start-up experience in this sector, which makes this investment opportunity attractive for Elliott: “We have chosen to back a management team that we believe is best placed to take advantage of the attractive opportunity set identified in Norway. The team members have extensive oil industry experience and have repeatedly proven that they know how to successfully develop start-up companies on the Norwegian Continental Shelf.”

The company will have offices in Stavanger and Oslo.

Swedbank acted as financial advisor to the Edge Management team.

Tags: Edge Petroleum AS, Elliott Management, Revus Energy, Swedbank