Dong Energy mulls oil and gas business sale to shift to wind energy

Four decades after it was set up to manage Denmark’s North Sea oilfields, Dong(Danish Oil and Natural Gas) Energy, is contemplating on putting its oil and gas business up for sale in a move that will completely transform the company’s focus from fossil fuels to renewable energy sources.

The integrated energy company and also the UK’s biggest windfarm operator, which is majority owned by the Danish government, has appointed JP Morgan to perform a strategy review that could result in the sale of the oil and gas business.

The company did not say if offloading its oil and gas operations would result in a change of name. it also added that it had yet to decide on the division’s future.

Floating on the Copenhagen stock exchange this year, the company previously said it would use the flow of cash from oil sales to fund ongoing investments in renewable energy projects.

But earlier this week, Dong said it might now look to raise funds more quickly by selling the division.Any sale could help it cement its position as the UK’s leading supporter of wind power.

Dong has stakes in windfarms that can produce more than 2.2 gigawatts (GW) in total, equivalent to about 4% of the UK’s predicted peak demand of 52.7GW during cold weather.

It has plans to add a further 1.5GW of wind power capacity including the Hornsea 1 project, 55 miles off the coast of Grimsby in England, which would be the world’s largest offshore windfarm.