Attracting infrastructure specialists to the UK North Sea was one of the recommendations made by Sir Ian Wood in his recent strategic review of the UK’s oil and gas industry.
The former Wood Group chairman noted that the Netherlands already has a number of infrastructure companies, whose business model is solely to operate offshore pipeline and onshore processing facilities.
Industry experts say this approach should help resolve some of the problems relating to infrastructure access in the UK North Sea by removing conflicts of interest.
It is also expected to help improve efficiency by allowing oil and gas companies to focus on production.
BG Group is under pressure to return value to shareholders disappointed by a string of production downgrades.
Lucas Herrmann, an analyst at banking giant Deutsche Bank said: “At a time when its balance sheet remains under some pressure, the divestment…represents a sensible release of capital.”
