Centrica buys up Total’s UK fields
ENERGY group Centrica has agreed to buy $388m (£246m) worth of UK North Sea oil and gas assets from French firm Total.
Centrica, parent company of British Gas, said its purchase of the seven sites would raise its reserves by around five per cent, or 22m barrels of oil, and is expected to produce 9,300 barrels of oil equivalent per day this year.
Centrica, which last year threatened to mothball UK sites in response to the government’s oil and gas profit tax hike, is looking to expand its upstream operations and said yesterday’s purchase raises the mix of oil in its portfolio.
The assets in the sale include the Maria site and three others operated by BG Group, which was also spun out of British Gas in the 1990s. BP and Chevron run the other sites.
Mark Hanafin, managing director of Centrica Energy, said: “Today’s announcement marks another step in the growth of our upstream oil and gas business…. It underlines our commitment to invest where we see attractive opportunities, securing future energy supplies for the UK.”
Centrica bought £1bn worth of exploration and production assets from Norway’s state energy firm Statoil in November, and last month raised its stake in the Statfjord field in the Norwegian North Sea.