Ineos buys 12 North Sea gasfields

ABERDEEN, October 12, 2015 – International chemicals group Ineos has acquired 12 gasfields in the North Sea for $750 million.

The group bought rights to the fields from an investment fund owned by Russian billionaire Mikhail Fridman.

In April, the UK announced a decision to force LetterOne to sell the assets due to concerns over their being subject to sanctions against Russia. The fields supply as much as 8 percent of the UK’s natural gas.

Ineos owns the Grangemouth refinery, Scotland’s largest and the sole refining and petrochemicals complex on the North Sea.

In a statement on the purchase, the company said the assets would improve its supply of natural gas in line with expanding its petrochemicals business.

Ineos also revealed plans to create an upstream division to review opportunities in the North Sea.

LetterOne owned the fields through a German company, DEA Group. It had targeted a selling price of $1.2 billion for the assets.

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