Ineos E&P makes profit despite £120m hit from failed deal
Ineos’s oil and gas arm last year made profits of £523m even as it wrote off around £120m in a failed deal.
The figures show a vast improvement from 2017’s £438m operating loss, recently released figures show.
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It came as Ineos, which is Britain’s largest private company, abandoned a deal for Conoco Phillips’s North Sea assets.
In April the North Sea fields were sold for $2.7bn (£2.1bn) to private equity firm Chrysaor Holdings.
Ineos’s subsidiary Ineos UK E&P Holdings, which focuses on North Sea oil and gas, took a £117.8m hit from a failed deal in 2018.
The charge to the company’s balance sheet came after it had paid “a non-refundable deposit made to a third party in relation to a potential acquisition opportunity,” the company said.
The accounts did not identify the third party.
Ineos UK E&P made earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortisation (Ebitda) of £861m. In 2017 it had a negative Ebitda of £242m.
Read more: Ineos confirms talks to buy £2.3bn North Sea oil fields from Conoco Phillips
It said it is continuing to look for growth by exploring further in Norway, Denmark and the UK.
“The delivery of the group’s production depends on efficient and reliable operation of existing fields and the successful development of future opportunities and projects,” it said.