Swiss petrochemicals company Ineos has agreed to acquire a strong portfolio of natural gas assets in the North Sea from a United Kingdom subsidiary of DEA Deutsche Erdoel AG, which is part of Russian billionaire, Mikhail Fridman’s LetterOne Group.
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Fridman made the purchase through DEA, a company owned through the oil and gas arm of his LetterOne investment company.
Sources had told Reuters last week that Fridman’s LetterOne fund had emerged as the frontrunner for the acquisition of E.ON’s Norwegian North Sea assets.
Although the reassurances given to Fridman do not signal any major improvement in relations between the West and Moscow, they showed that Russian investments have not been banned entirely.
The deal, which DEA sees as the first step to its new growth strategy, will provide DEA with a much larger portfolio, doubling the company’s daily production of oil and gas in Norway to more than 75,000 boe/d.
DEA welcomed the deal, which allows it to more than double its hydrocarbon production in Norway, where it already holds 31 licenses.
The agreement, which includes $100 million in cash, is subject to approval by the Norwegian authorities and the European Commission.
Traders and analysts hailed the transaction price as coming in above market estimates of $1.35 billion and E.ON’s shares rose 4.5 percent, the biggest increase in Germany’s blue-chip index on Wednesday. Its focus is on safe, sustainable and environmental conscious exploitation of oil and gas.
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Also “under strategic review” are exploration activities in the British North Sea, E.ON said in a statement.
