Ineos completes purchase of DONG Energy

Ineos has completed its purchase of DONG Energy’s oil and gas business, positioning it as a top 10 company in the North Sea and the biggest privately-owned exploration and production business operating in the energy basin. Following completion of the deal, DONG Energy – originally short for Danish Oil and Natural Gas – called for an Extraordinary General Meeting to ask its shareholders to approve a change of the company name to Ørsted to underline its shift away from fossil fuels towards batteries and wind power. The new name is after the Danish scientist HC Oersted, who discovered electromagnetism in 1820.

The acquisition brings with it a good mix of long life and development fields, producing an average of 100,000 boe/d (in 2016) in the North Sea, with around 570mn boe of commercial and potential oil and gas reserves in Denmark, Norway and the UK (West of Shetland).

The strong portfolio of assets is built around three world class fields – Ormen Lange is the largest field in the Dong portfolio and the second largest gas field in Norwegian waters; Laggan-Tormore is a new gas field West of Shetland which came onstream early 2016; and Syd Arne is a large oil field in Denmark. Along with the existing production the portfolio also features several large-scale oil and gas developments in Denmark, Norway and UK (West of Shetland).