Monday 11 March 2019

EU greenlights Total’s buyout of Chevron’s Danish North Sea business

The European Commission has approved the acquisition of Chevron’s North Sea business in Denmark by Total.

The French oil and gas giant is buying all of the stake in Chevron’s Danish Underground Consortium (DUC), which increases its stake in the project from 31.2% to 43.2% and expand its presence in the North Sea.

Chevron Denmark is active in the exploration and production of crude oil and natural gas in the Danish North Sea.

The other partners of the consortium are Shell (36.8%) and Nordsofonden (20%, owned by the Danish State).

Total is also buying a 12% interest in Licence 8/06 and a 7.5% stake in the Tyra West pipeline.

The Commission said its investigation, which focused on the markets for upstream and downstream wholesale supply of gas in Denmark and neighbouring member states, found the proposed acquisition would not raise competition concerns.

It added: “On the market for upstream wholesale supply of gas, the Commission found that the merged entity would not have an increased market power. In addition, there are no constraints on interconnection capacity between Denmark and neighbouring member states.

“On the market for downstream wholesale supply of gas, the Commission found that there are a number of alternative suppliers available to customers and that the transaction would have a limited impact on the market structure in Denmark and in the EEA.”

It also found, among other things, that customers in Denmark already source gas directly from other European hubs located in Germany and the Netherlands.