Marubeni to withdraw from UK North Sea
Japan's Marubeni announced November 4 it had agreed to sell its UK North Sea-focused subsidiary Moguk to Ithaca Energy.
Marubeni did not disclose the sales price, but said that the deal was on track to be closed by January next year. The announcement follows a report by Reuters in mid-September that Ithaca had agreed to buy Marubeni's assets for $1bn. Ithaca itself has not commented on the matter.
With Moguk's sale, Marubeni will no longer operate in the UK North Sea. Other Japanese players such as Idemitsu Kosan and Itochu Corp have also exited the area in recent years, and Sumitomo and Osaka Gas decided last month to divest their 49.5% share in Norway's Snnore oil project to Inpex.
Marubeni, one of Japan's largest trading groups, aims to halve its Scope 1 and 2 CO2 emissions by 2030 and achieve carbon neutrality by 2050.