BP sells Forties pipeline business to Ineos for £200m

Mark Thomas, BP North Sea regional president, said the move would allow BP to focus its North Sea business around core offshore assets – “bringing new fields into production, redeveloping and renewing existing producing facilities, and acquiring and exploring new acreage and interests through licence rounds and farm-ins”.

The deal comprises the entire Forties Pipeline System business, which includes FPS equipment on Apache’s Forties Charlie platform, Forties Unity platform, the St Fergus-to-Cruden Bay natural gas liquids line, the Cruden Bay terminal and a variety of other assets in the North Sea.

It also includes LPG storage and export at Grangemouth docks and Grangemouth, where Ineos already has a major refinery.

Ineos is expected to pay BP a cash payment of $125 million on completion later this year and an earn-out arrangement over seven years that totals up to $125 million, a statement from the oil and gas firm said.

Ineos chief executive officer Jim Ratcliffe said: “The North Sea continues to present new opportunities for Ineos. The Forties Pipeline System is a UK strategic asset and was originally designed to work together to feed the Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical facilities.”

Earlier this year BP also sold 25% of its North Sea Magnus oilfield, a 25% stake in various pipelines and a 3% stake in the Sullom Voe Terminal to oil and gas production company EnQuest for $85 million (£68m).