MOSCOW (MRC) -- Ineos has completed its acquisition of the Forties Pipeline System (FPS) and associated pipelines and facilities from BP, said the producer in its press release.
The 235-mile pipeline system links 85 North Sea oil and gas assets to the UK mainland and the Ineos site in Grangemouth, Scotland, delivering almost 40% of the UK’s North Sea oil and gas production.
Ownership and operation of FPS, the Kinneil gas processing plant and oil terminal, the Dalmeny storage and export facility, sites at Aberdeen, the Forties Unity Platform and associated infrastructure has now transferred to INEOS FPS, together with approximately 300 personnel.
Andrew Gardner, CEO INEOS FPS said, "Our acquisition of the Forties Pipeline System and associated assets together with its highly skilled workforce is significant and strategic. It demonstrates INEOS’ commitment to securing a competitive long-term future for this critical piece of oil and gas infrastructure and provides the platform to potential future offshore INEOS investments. We will bring our focus and proven track record on safety, reliability and excellence in operations and apply them throughout the FPS business."
The deal consolidates INEOS’ position as a top ten company in the North Sea. It further expands the INEOS oil and gas business interests following the acquisitions of the Breagh and Clipper South gas fields in the Southern North Sea from Letter1 in 2015 and the Dong Oil and Gas business from DONG Energy at the end of September this year. Twenty per cent of the oil that passes down the Forties pipeline feeds the Petroineos refinery that in turn provides more than 80% of Scotland’s transport fuels.
As MRC reported earlier, in April 2016, Ineos said the second manufacturing unit at Grangemouth’s KG ethylene plant had been brought back to life eight years after being mothballed. Ineos then said it had completed successful operational trials as it prepared to receive shale gas ethane from the US as petrochemical feedstock. The Ineos investment should bring US shale gas economics to Europe. The project includes contracts to acquire gas from the Marcellus Shale in Western Pennsylvania; connection to the new, 300-mile Mariner East pipeline to bring the gas to the Marcus Hook deep water terminal near Philadelphia; the design and commissioning of eight Dragon-class ships that will create a virtual pipeline across the Atlantic; and the construction of a new import terminal, including the biggest shale gas storage tank in Europe at Grangemouth.
The new import terminal at Grangemouth will also benefit the Fife ethylene plant in Mossmorran, Scotland, after it was announced that the owners of the plant had agreed a long-term sale and purchase agreement to secure ethane from mid-2017.
Ineos Group Limited is a privately owned multinational chemicals company consisting of 15 standalone business units, headquartered in Rolle, Switzerland and with its registered office in Lyndhurst, United Kingdom. It is the fourth largest chemicals company in the world measured by revenues (after BASF, Dow Chemical and LyondellBasell) and the largest privately owned company in the United Kingdom.
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