Tuesday 10 March 2015

INEOS and IGas agree £138m UK shale gas deal

Swiss petrochemicals giant INEOS has announced a deal to buy stakes in a number of shale gas licences across the UK.

Britain’s IGas Energy has signed a £30 million agreement with the company, giving INEOS access to shale sites in the North West and East Midland regions of England.

In Scotland, it has bought IGas’ entire interest in the Grangemouth licence.

INEOS has also committed to covering investments of £138 million for developing shale gas fields across England.

Gary Haywood, CEO of INEOS Upstream said: “We believe shale gas could revolutionise UK manufacturing and INEOS has the resources to make it happen, the skills to extract the gas safely and the vision to realise that everyone must share in the rewards for UK shale gas to be successfully developed”.

Last year, the Swiss company pledged to invest up to $1 billion (£0.64bn) in shale gas exploration in the UK.