Ineos (Rolle / Switzerland; www.ineos.com) is to acquire Dong Energy's (Fredericia / Denmark; www.dongenergy.com) entire oil and gas production for USD 1.05 bn (EUR 936m) and an additional contingent payment of USD 250m. This purchase includes ten Danish, Norwegian and British gas and oil fields in the North Sea with a capacity of 100,000 barrels per day, of which around 70% are from the Ormen Lange gas field in Norway. According to Ineos, this deal promotes it to the largest private enterprise among the top ten operators in the North Sea. The transaction is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2017.

Ineos has been involved in the petrochemical industry for some time now. The group continues to expand its upstream business, as it has done since 1998 with many plants in the petrochemical industry, says Ineos chairman Jim Ratcliffe. After taking over gas fields from DEA and Fairfield (see Plasteurope.com of 16.10.2015), the company recently acquired the Forties pipeline system in the North Sea from BP, in a political deal that was not uncontroversial in Scotland.