BG plans pounds 5bn international expansion
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.BG, THE GAS transportation and exploration group, yesterday unveiled plans to double the size of its international division over the next four years with a pounds 5bn investment programme.
The announcement fuelled speculation that BG International, which is made up of the group's exploration and production, liquified natural gas and power generation interests, is being lined up for demerger. In May, BG was restructured into two legally separate businesses, BG International and Transco, its UK transmission arm.
That restructuring, which was accompanied by plans to replace pounds 1.5bn of equity withindex-linked bonds, was designed to load most of BG's debt into Transco, allowing the international arm to expand faster.
The expansion plans include an increase in return on capital to 20 per cent by 2003 and a rise in oil and gas production to 425,000 barrels per day.
Last year, BG International had a turnover of pounds 1.2bn and made profits of pounds 225m. Its president, Frank Chapman, said demerger was not part of the group's plans because of the synergies between Transco and the international arm.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments