BP in talks to sell Forties pipeline system to petrochemicals company Ineos
17 Mar 2017
British energy giant BP Plc is in talks to sell its Forties pipeline system in the North Sea to London-based privately-owned multinational petrochemicals company Ineos.
The 100-mile Forties pipeline system is a strategic pipeline network in the North Sea carrying 30 per cent of the UK's oil, or about 700 thousand barrels per day of oil and gas liquids from over 50 offshore fields a day, to the onshore terminal at Cruden Bay near Aberdeen in Scotland.
The Forties pipeline supplies oil to Ineos' Grangemouth refinery near Edinburgh, which it acquired in 2005 from BP.
"We remain committed to communicating openly with staff and our stakeholders as soon as we are able, and as commercial confidentialities allow, if any deal is confirmed or agreed," BP said.
BP is looking for a buyer for the Forties pipeline system for over a year due to the collapse of the oil price in the last three years.
Ineos, run by British businessman Jim Ratcliffe, is currently engaged in a $600 million project to bring Shale Gas Ethane from the US to its petrochemical plants in Scotland and Norway.