North Sea Asset Acquisitions

INEOS wished to acquire a significant op­erated producing position in the North Sea. This was part of an overall strategy for INEOS, one of the UK’s largest energy users, to build an upstream oil & gas pro­duction business to complement its es­tablished refining and chemicals divisions.

SLR’s role was to identify acquisition opportunities which would satisfy the client’s overall objectives, including; to determine the underlying techni­cal and commercial basis for each oppor­tunity; advise on the acquisition of a sig­nificant operated position in the North Sea; and evaluate the seller’s case and con­structed independent cases for existing production and growth/future invest­ment cases.

Our team provided subsurface, drilling, commercial and economic support on facilities, operations, legal and tax as well as reviewed upstream commercial agreements on matters such as tie in agreements, transportation and processing and Joint Operating Agree­ments.

As a result, INEOS was successful in making two significant corporate acquisitions: DEA UK which included the Breagh and Clip­per South for $750 million and Fair­field Energy’s equity in Clipper South. This moved them immediately into an operating position where their assets accounted for 8% of UK gas production.