LONDON�Phillips Petroleum Co. UK Ltd. today Wednesday announced it has signed a deal to sell joint venture company Phillips-Imperial Petroleum (PIP) Ltd. to Petroplus International NV for $110 million as part of plans to focus "more intensively" on its core UK E&P operations.
The sale of PIP, part owned by Imperial Chemicals Industries PLC, is part of Phillips' global strategy to "rationalize [the company's] assets in order to concentrate on [its] exploration and production portfolio," according to Phillips' European Division Pres. Henry McGee.
"We hold a substantial acreage position in frontier areas west of the Shetlands, the Faeroes, and offshore Ireland," said McGee. "These opportunities, together with our central North Sea interests in the J-block area, will now be the focus of our UK activities."
As part of the deal, Petroplus will take over a PIP-operated refinery in Teesside, in the north of England, as well as Phillips Petroleum Products (PPP), the Phillips subsidiary that markets PIP products.
The 117,000 b/d Teesside refinery processes crude oil from Phillips's North Sea fields, including the Ekofisk complex, for use as feedstocks at the petrochemical complex at Wilton, Teesside.
In addition to the company's stake in the refinery, the sale also covers PPP's marketing and distribution business and related infrastructure in the UK.
Phillips will collect $55 million from the sale.
