Total Closes Maersk Deal

French oil company Total has closed the acquisition of Denmark's Maersk Oil with effect from March 8, it said, laying claim to second place among North Sea producers. It brings around 1bn barrels of oil equivalent of 2P/2C reserves and resources, mainly in OECD countries, and about 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent/day (boe/d) in 2018, ramping up to more than 200,000 boe/d by the early 2020s. North Sea output will be 500,000 boe/d by 2020, behind only Norwegian state-controlled Statoil.

Total CEO Patrick Pouyanne said the deal illustrated its strategy to build on core areas and focus on high quality and low-breakeven assets. And the "strong overlap between Maersk Oil and the group’s assets will generate more than $400mn of synergies per year.”

The regional hub for North Sea activities is now headquartered in Copenhagen, home also to a "major new shareholder AP Moller-Maersk which will hold 3.7% of the group’s capital,” he added.

AP Moller-Maersk will receive $4.95bn in Total shares based on their value in the weeks preceding August 21 last year when the deal was agreed and Total will assume $2.5bn of Maersk Oil’s debt.

The $7.45bn deal, first announced August 2017, secured its last regulatory approval last week from Denmark.