French in £5.8bn North Sea swoop

TOTAL has struck a deal to acquire the oil division of Danish firm Maersk for £5.8bn.

The deal will see the French energy giant seize control of Maersk Oil’s assets in the UK’s sector of the North Sea, including the Culzean gas field.

Total said the tie-up will see it make £311m in annual cost-savings, which 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 around 1bn barrels worth of oil reserves, 8poc of which are in OECD countries, including more than 80pc in the North Sea. 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.’

‘We are also very pleased that we will have a new anchor point in Denmark.’