French oil and gas company Total will acquire 100% of Chevron's subsidiary Chevron Denmark for an undisclosed transaction price in order to increase its share in the Danish Underground Consortium (DUC) in the North Sea. Once completed, the agreement will enable Total to increase its stake in the DUC from 31.2% by an additional 12%. Besides, Total will also gain access to Chevron Denmark’s stakes of 12% in offshore hydrocarbon Licence 8/06, and 7.5% in the Tyra West gas pipeline.
The DUC started production in 1972 and currently operates 15 oil and gas fields, all of them located in the Central Graben sector of the North Sea. They contribute to an overwhelming majority of the Danish oil and gas production and their combined output stood at 182,000 boe/d in 2017. Prior to the transaction, DUC's shareholders were Total (through Mærsk Oil, 31.2%), Shell (36.8 %), Chevron (12%) and Nordsøfonden (20%). Total acquired the share in 2018, when it purchased all of A.P. Møllers - Mærsk's oil and gas activities.
In December 2017, the DUC approved an investment of DKK21bn (US$3.36bn) for the redevelopment of the Tyra gas field, which is expected to increase the asset's production by an additional 60,000 boe/d by 2022. The field will be closed for the redevelopment programme in November 2019 and resume production in July 2022.