Page 20 - EurOil Week 01 2021

EurOil INVESTMENT EurOil

Ineos closes $5bn takeover

of BP petchem business

UK THE UK’s Ineos announced this week it had and paraxylene technology, supplying the poly-
closed its $5bn acquisition of BP’s petrochemi- ester business.
BP has increasingly cals division, giving the company greater global The deal means BP has completed its $15bn
seen its petrochemical reach. divestment programme, which it did not expect
business as non-core, Ineos and BP announced the deal in June, to finish until mid-2021. The UK major is under
with little overlap which will help the latter deliver on divestment considerable financial strain as a result of the
with the rest of its goals and reshape its business for the transition oil price collapse, having entered the crisis with
operations. to lower-carbon energy. BP’s petrochemicals around $45bn in net debt. This had swollen to
division is focused on aromatics and acetyls and $51.6bn by the end of March.
consists of eight sites in Asia, five in the Americas BP’s decision to exit petrochemicals con-
and two in Europe, as well as stakes in 10 joint trasts with the strategies of its peers such as
ventures. Royal Dutch Shell and ExxonMobil, which are
“Ineos is already one of the world’s leading continuing to build up their polymer businesses.
petrochemical companies and this acquisition But over the years BP has seen its petrochemi-
will extend both the portfolio and the geographic cals plants as increasingly non-core with limited
reach of the business,” the company said, noting overlap with the rest of its operations.
that the assets it has acquired would be named This is not Ineos’ first acquisition from BP. In
Ineos Acetyls and Ineos Aromatics. 2005 the company, founded by billionaire UK
Ineos Acetyls produces acetic acid and a range Jim Ratcliffe, bought BP subsidiary Innovene in
of derivatives, supplying a wide range of down- 2005, which at the time comprised the bulk of the
stream activities such as food, pharmaceuticals, major’s chemical assets. It later assumed some of
paints, adhesives and packaging. Ineos Aromat- BP’s oil and gas operations in the UK North Sea,
ics is a world leader in purified terephthalic acid including the Forties pipeline system. ™

PROJECTS & COMPANIES

Conoco makes major oil find off Norway

NORWAY CONOCOPHILLIPS hailed a “significant” oil more than 50-year legacy in Norway.”
discovery off Norway in December up to 200mn ConocoPhillips is the only US major left in
ConocoPhillips barrels in size, just over a month after making a Norway following the departure of Chevron in
estimates the field’s similarly-sized gas find in the country’s waters. 2018 and ExxonMobil the following year. Its
size at up to 200mn The US major made its latest discovery at main focus is the Greater Ekofisk Area in the
barrels. the Slagugle prospect some 22.5 km north-east southern North Sea, consisting of the Ekofisk,
of the Equinor-operated Heidrun field, where Eldfisk and Embla fields.
it has a 24% position. ConocoPhillips owns an The company found oil, gas and condensate
80% stake in the discovery licence, while opera- in the central Norwegian North Sea near the Var
tor Pandion Energy has 20%. Energi-operated Balder field in November 2019,
ConocoPhillips said preliminary estimates estimating recoverable volumes at between 1mn
placed the size of the find at between 75mn and and 10mn boe. The company then reported a
200mn barrels of oil equivalent (boe), while minor oil and gas discovery, again near Balder,
Pandion said it was the biggest discovery off in January 2020.
Norway in 2020. Further appraisal is needed to However, both these finds paled in compar-
determine potential flow rates and how much oil ison to ConocoPhillips’ 8-30bn cubic metre gas
can be recovered, as well as work out a plan for discovery in November last year, some 35 km
development. from Heidrun.
“This discovery marks our fourth successful The Slagugle well was drilled by the Leiv
exploration well on the Norwegian Continental Eiriksson semi-submersible, in waters 355
Shelf [NCS] in the last 16 months,” ConocoPhil- metres deep. It encountered a 270-metre oil col-
lips’ chief operating officer Matt Fox said in a umn in Early Jurassic and Triassic Age rock, of
statement. “All four discoveries have been made which 90 metres was sandstone with generally
in well-documented parts of the North Sea and very good reservoir properties. The Leiv Eiriks-
the Norwegian Sea and offer very low cost of son rig is now bound for the Bergen shipyard,
supply resource additions that can extend our where it will await further assignments. ™

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