24 January 2018
North Sea's last hurrah
M&A in the region picked up in 2017, but European output was still expected to wane
A flurry of mergers and asset deals, along with a handful of promising discoveries over the past year or two, left many hopeful in 2017 that the fast-maturing North Sea still had some juice left in it. Eastern European states, meanwhile, continued to rail against Russian gas, as well as climate-change measures that might hurt their economically important coal industries. The $9bn that changed hand in deals relating to North Sea exploration and production assets in the first half of 2017 was more than the total value for 2016 as a whole, according to consultancy Wood Mackenzie—and momentum continued in the second half, notably with Total's $7.45bn purchase of Maersk Oil from AP Moeller-Maersk
Also in this section
3 May 2024
Upcoming elections are likely to deliver a win for the party of president Andres Lopez Obrador, but analysts differ over to what degree his successor will stick to his energy policies
2 May 2024
Faster-than-expected economic growth fails to mask macro imbalances and shifting structural oil product trends
1 May 2024
Energean CEO Mathios Rigas looks to results of critical Anchois appraisal well
30 April 2024
While its regional neighbours reap the rewards of oil and gas success, Iraq’s hydrocarbons sector is lagging behind