Ratcliffe's Ineos splashes out $1bn in latest North Sea deal
Jim Ratcliffe, the billionaire petrochemicals tycoon and owner of Ineos, today raised his bet on the North Sea by buying the oil and gas assets of Denmark’s Dong Energy for close to $1 billion (£800 million).
Ineos, which will be one of the North Sea’s top 10 producers and its largest private operator, is to gain 440 Dong staff across Scottish, Norwegian and Danish waters.
Ratcliffe said: “We have been successful in our petrochemical businesses. We plan to do the same with our oil and gas assets.”
Tom Crotty, a director at the firm, added: “North Sea assets are in decline and most owners don’t want to be there. We are asset operators rather than explorers — it’s all about getting the maximum economic benefit from the North Sea as it declines.”
Crotty said there could be at least 30 years more life in Dong’s assets. The firm is one of the world’s biggest wind-farm operators, and says it wants to concentrate on its renewables.
Ineos recently bought BP’s Forties pipeline, the North Sea’s biggest, for $125 million.
Dong revealed this week that it has been developing high-tech scarecrows to keep seagulls away from its wind turbines after bird droppings caused problems.
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