Lime Rock Partners invests $25 million in Romania

The $25 million staged equity investment from Lime Rock Partners will fund further appraisal, workover, and drilling activities on Expert Petroleum’s assets.

Lime Rock Partners was represented in the transaction by Vinson & Elkins LLP out of its Dubai office and Nestor Nestor Diculescu Kingston Petersen. Expert Petroleum was advised by The Sanad Law Group in Jordan and Varinia Radu in Romania.

Lime Rock’s initial $25 million commitment to Expert will be phased in over the next two years as needed, and Lime Rock will potentially invest more in the company depending on Expert’s ability to capture opportunities to accelerate its value creation and growth.

The Lime Rock Partners investment in Expert is the firm’s sixtieth investment in a global energy company since its formation and the first to be executed from the firm’s Dubai office, which is led by longstanding Lime Rock veterans Saad Bargach and Rob Willings.

Part of the Jordan-based NT&S Energy group, Expert Petroleum has acquired eight mature field licenses in Romania and is applying leading-edge field redevelopment and rehabilitation technology to those licenses to restart oil and gas production.

The Lime Rock and Expert teams continue to work together to identify other investment opportunities, including accelerating development of Expert’s current licenses, acquiring new production licenses, and forming innovative partnerships with leading regional oil and gas producers to jointly rehabilitate and redevelop mature oil and gas fields.

“This is a very important day in the history of our company. For the last five years, we have carefully assembled and conducted in-depth technical analysis and appraisal activities on our oil and gas properties in Romania, fields that are well suited to our strengths in mature asset rehabilitation. The capital from Lime Rock will fund our future development costs,” said David Martinon, Founding Partner and Managing Director of Expert Petroleum.

Expert Petroleum was founded by Mr. Martinon and Michel Louboutin, Founding Partner and General Manager of the company, with experience in mature asset rehabilitation as managers at Schlumberger.

The team’s experience includes international and Romanian project management at ConocoPhillips, Weatherford, Petrom, Romgaz, and other companies.

Expert is currently developing eight licenses focused on the Carpathian Basin, Transylvanian Basin, and Moesian Platform.

Expert is also in discussions with independent oil and gas producers, national oil companies, and others for additional joint venture projects and field license acquisitions.

Lime Rock manages $3.9 billion of capital for investment in the energy industry. From offices in Dubai, UAE; Houston, Texas; Aberdeen, Scotland; and Westport, Connecticut, the Lime Rock Partners team invests growth capital in exploration and production, energy service, and oil service technology companies worldwide.

Expert Petroleum has regional office in Romania Central and Eastern Europe and in Jordan for the Middle East and North Africa.