Total to buy Maersk's North Sea assets in £5.8bn deal

French energy giant Total has struck an agreement to acquire the oil division of Danish firm Maersk in a $7.45 billion (£5.8bn) deal.

The deal will give Total access to about one billion barrels worth of oil reserves. Picture: Mychele Daniau/AFP/Getty Images

It will see Total seize control of Maersk Oil’s assets in the UK’s sector of the North Sea, including the Culzean gas field.

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Under the terms of the transaction, Maersk will receive $4.95bn worth of Total shares and Total will assume $2.5bn of Maersk Oil’s debt.

Total said the combination with Maersk Oil offers it an “exceptional overlap” of upstream businesses which will increase its competitiveness through growing assets and $400 million in annual cost-saving synergies.

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The cost savings will be seen “in particular by the combination of assets of Total and Maersk Oil in North Sea”.

The deal will give the French firm access to about one billion barrels worth of oil reserves, 85 per cent of which are in OECD countries, including more than 80 per cent in the North Sea.

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Alongside Maersk Oil’s UK North Sea assets, Total will also take over its Danish and Norwegian operations.

Total chairman and chief executive Patrick Pouyanne said: “The combination of Maersk Oil’s North Western Europe businesses with our existing portfolio will position Total as the second operator in the North Sea with strong production profiles in UK, Norway and Denmark, thus increasing exposure to conventional assets in OECD countries.

“We are also very pleased that we will have a new anchor point in Denmark which will host our North Sea Business Unit and supervise our operations in Denmark, Norway and the Netherlands.”

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