ExxonMobil and Shell have decided not to proceed with a planned sale of their joint assets in the southern UK North Sea to Viaro Energy.
Despite months of work to complete the transaction, completion conditions have not been met and the deal has been subject of a lengthy review by the UK’s regulator, the North Sea Transition Authority (NSTA).
Last year, Viaro Energy signed an agreement to take over Shell and Exxon’s UK Southern North Sea assets, which are one of the largest and longest producing gas asset portfolios in the UKCS, including high-quality, well-maintained production facilities and the Bacton gas receiving terminal.
The Shell-operated onshore Bacton Gas Processing Terminal is an asset of critical importance to the UK’s gas supply as it is the sole entry point for gas from Belgium and the Netherlands. Bacton-processed gas accounts for about a third of Britain’s total gas supply.
However, the deal has met hurdles and has now been canceled, and Shell will continue to operate the assets until Shell and Exxon consider what to do with these next.
“The parties have worked hard and in close alignment to try and complete this transaction over many months, but despite this being a fully funded opportunity, the completion conditions were not met as commercial and market conditions evolved and we mutually agreed not to proceed,” Viaro Energy’s CEO Francesco Mazzagatti said in a statement carried by Bloomberg.
In recent years, Mazzagatti has been in legal troubles more than once. In 2024, he was sued by a former company he headed for embezzling funds from sales from an Iranian petrochemicals company designated by the United States. Mazzagatti also faces criminal charges in Italy and civil forgery and fraud allegations in the UK, and he denies any wrongdoing.
Since the now-defunct deal was announced, Shell has completed a transaction with Equinor to combine their offshore UK oil and gas operations in a 50/50 joint venture, Adura, which has become one of the UK’s largest independent North Sea producers. The JV does not include the Bacton terminal and multiple assets in the Southern North Sea, and Shell retained ownership of its interests and projects that are part of the UK SEGAL system, namely Fife NGL Plant, St Fergus Gas Terminal and the Braefoot Bay facility.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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