Germany’s DEA buying E.ON Norway oil, gas business for $1.6B

The group’s United Kingdom exploration & production remains under review, E.ON said in a statement on Wednesday.

Both statements will be viewed with relief by wealthy Russians, who have been watching Fridman’s struggle to invest in Britain with great anxiety.

The United Kingdom government gave Mr. Fridman’s $29 billion LetterOne investment fund six months, starting in April, to sell the North Sea gas fields acquired in March or face having the licenses to operate the fields revoked.

DEA supervisory board chairman Lord Browne said the planned acquisition is the first step in the company’s new growth strategy.

DEA welcomed the deal, which allows it to more than double its hydrocarbon production in Norway, where it already holds 31 licenses.

The transaction, which is subject to regulatory approval, is expected to close by the end of the year, a spokesman said. Its focus is on safe, sustainable and environmental conscious exploitation of oil and gas. The company blamed low crude oil prices for the loss. The company had put its North Sea E&P business under strategic review in November 2014.

E&P Norge has stakes in 43 licences but most are exploration assets, only a handful are in production and none is operated by E.ON.

Its major producing fields include Njord, operated by Statoil (STL.OL) and Skarv, operated by BP (BP.L).