Petrochemical giant turned North Sea powerhouse Ineos has completed the £200million acquisition of the North Sea Forties Pipeline System and Kinneil Terminal from supermajor BP.
In addition, the firm now owns and operates the Dalmeny storage and export facility, sites at Aberdeen, the Forties Unity Platform and associated infrastructure.
Around 300 workers have also transferred across to the Ineos as part of the deal.
The completion of the acquisition, announced earlier this year, consolidates Ineos’ position as a top ten company in the North Sea and the largest privately owned exploration and production business operating in the energy basin.
It further expands the firm’s oil and gas business interests following the acquisitions of the Breagh and Clipper South gas fields in the Southern North Sea in 2015 and DONG Energy’s oil and gas business at the end of September this year.
Around 20% of the oil that passes down the Forties pipeline feeds the Petroineos refinery, which in turn provides more than 80% of Scotland’s transport fuels.
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.
Ineos Forties pipeline system (FPS) chief executive, Andrew Gardner said: “This represents another very significant deal for Ineos.
“The acquisition reunites North Sea and Grangemouth assets under Ineos ownership.
“Ineos is now the only UK company with refinery and petrochemical assets directly integrated into the North Sea and this deal provides the platform to potential future offshore Ineos investments.”
He added: “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 Forties pipeline (FPS) was opened in 1975 to transport oil from BP’s Forties field, the UK’s first major offshore oil field.
FPS carries liquids production from some 85 fields in the Central and Northern North Sea and several Norwegian fields on behalf of 21 companies.
In 2016, the pipeline’s average daily throughput was 445,000 barrels of oil and some 3,500 tonnes of raw gas a day.
The system has a capacity of 610,000 barrels of oil a day. BP sold its interests in the Forties field to Apache in 2003 and sold its Grangemouth refinery and petrochemical plants to Ineos in 2005.
The Forties Pipeline System primarily comprises a 105 mile, 36” pipeline from the unmanned offshore Forties Unity platform to the onshore terminal at Cruden Bay.
From there a 36” onshore pipeline transports the oil 130 miles south to the Kinneil facilities, adjacent to the Grangemouth refinery and chemical plant, where it is processed and stabilised before output is sent either for export via the Dalmeny terminal and Hound Point loading jetty or on to Grangemouth.
The acquisition encompasses the FPS business, existing customer contracts and assets including:
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