Ineos completes the acquisition of North Sea Forties pipeline system and Kinneil terminal from BP | Market Report Company

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.