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Divestment streak continues for British energy company Centrica

by Daniel J. Graeber Washington (UPI) Jun 8, 2017 UPI
British energy company Centrica said Friday it was now a pure-European player after selling off parts of its Canadian partnership.

Centrica holds a 60 percent stake in the Canadian exploration and production joint venture, CQ Energy Canada Partnership, and said it was now sold to a consortium led by Asian investors.

"In line with its strategy announced in July 2015, the divestment means Centrica's exploration and production activity will now be focused solely on European assets," the company said in a statement.

Its stated emphasis on the European energy sector follows the sale in May of its gas assets in Trinidad and Tobago.

In a statement on year-end 2016 performance, however, the company said it was focused on implementing a "customer-facing strategy" that reduced its exploration and production portfolio.

Capital spending on exploration and production was down last year by 28 percent and the company added that it left the wind-power sector with the sale of its Lincs windfarm off the British coast to green British investment entities. Danish energy group DONG Energy took over operations in January.

The divestment streak from exploration and production predates the February announcement in 2016. The company's Norwegian subsidiary last year transferred its interest to regional counterpart Det norske. Before the deal, Centrica held about 50 licenses offshore Norway, operated 13 of those and produced about 85,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from the region.

Centrica put the value of the sale of its Canadian assets at around $530 million.

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