The North Sea still has potential for portfolio optimisation
North Sea buyers wanted
The UKCS in particular has a pipeline of assets for sale. But who will the purchasers be?
“We got off to a really fast start at the beginning of this year. It has somewhat stagnated in the North Sea, but we still see plenty of opportunities in the pipeline.” So said Neivan Boroujerdi, principal analyst, North Sea upstream oil and gas at consultancy Wood Mackenzie, speaking at the Energy Voice Future North Sea conference in early September. Boroujerdi sees different types of actors that could be sellers of North Sea assets, including Asian players. “A good example of that is Japanese trading houses really changing their approach to upstream in light of net CO₂ targets,” he says. While ExxonMobil, Chevron, TotalEnergies, BP and Shell have all sold North Sea assets in recent years,
Also in this section
5 December 2025
Mistaken assumptions around an oil bull run that never happened are a warning over the talk of a supply glut
4 December 2025
Time is running out for Lukoil and Rosneft to divest international assets that will be mostly rendered useless to them when the US sanctions deadline arrives in mid-December
3 December 2025
Aramco’s pursuit of $30b in US gas partnerships marks a strategic pivot. The US gains capital and certainty; Saudi Arabia gains access, flexibility and a new export future
2 December 2025
The interplay between OPEC+, China and the US will define oil markets throughout 2026
