Norway's Equinor, Shell plan to form UK oil and gas joint venture

Norway's Equinor and Shell announced on Thursday plans to merge their British offshore oil and gas assets into a joint venture, equally owned by both companies. 

"The new company is expected to produce over 140,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day in 2025," Equinor said in a statement, adding that the joint venture would be the British North Sea's biggest independent producer. 

The joint venture will be based in Aberdeen, Scotland, and will be set up to sustain domestic oil and gas production and security of energy supply in Britain, Equinor said. 

The new company will include Equinor's stakes in the Mariner, Rosebank and Buzzard fields, and Shell's holdings in Shearwater, Penguins, Gannet, Nelson, Pierce, Jackdaw, Victory, Clair and Schiehallion, the Norwegian group said. 

A range of exploration licences will also be part of the transaction, it added. 

Equinor will retain ownership of the Utgard, Barnacle and Statfjord cross-border assets between Norway and Britain, as well as its offshore wind portfolio including Sheringham Shoal, Dudgeon, Hywind Scotland and Dogger Bank, it said. 

It will also retain the hydrogen, carbon capture and storage, power generation, battery storage and gas storage assets, it added. 

Meanwhile, Shell will remain the owner of its interests in the Fife NGL plant, St Fergus Gas Terminal and floating wind projects under development, MarramWind and CampionWind. 

Shell UK will also remain technical developer of Acorn, Scotland's largest carbon capture and storage project, Equinor said.

The plan is to complete the deal by the end of 2025.

 

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