Prior notification of a concentration (Case M.11166 – EQUINOR / SHELL / TOTALENERGIES / JV) – Candidate case for simplified procedure
Date: 2024-04-10
Institutions: Directorate-General for Competition, European Commission
Subjects: Norway, carbon capture and storage, economic concentration, energy production, gas industry, littoral, merger control, oil industry, renewable energy, subsidiary








C_202402648EN.000101.fmx.xml












Official Journal of the European Union


EN
C series













C/2024/2648


10.4.2024






Prior notification of a concentration
(Case M.11166 – EQUINOR / SHELL / TOTALENERGIES / JV)
Candidate case for simplified procedure
(Text with EEA relevance)
(C/2024/2648)


1.   
On 2 April 2024, the Commission received notification of a proposed concentration pursuant to Article 4 of Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 (1).
This notification concerns the following undertakings:






—


Equinor ASA, (‘Equinor’, Norway),










—


A/S Norske Shell (‘Norske Shell’, Norway), controlled by Shell PLC (‘Shell’, United Kingdom),










—


TotalEnergies EP Norge AS (‘TotalEnergies Norge’, Norway), controlled by TotalEnergies SE (‘TotalEnergies’, France).




Equinor, Norske Shell and TotalEnergies Norge will acquire within the meaning of Article 3(1)(b) and 3(4) of the Merger Regulation joint control of Northern Lights JV DA (‘Northern Lights JV’, Norway).
The concentration is accomplished by way of purchase of shares.


2.   
The business activities of the undertakings concerned are the following:






—


Equinor is an international energy company that develops oil, gas, wind, solar and other renewable and low-carbon energy projects,










—


Norske Shell is a subsidiary of Shell, which is an oil and gas company active in the exploration, production and sale of oil and natural gas, power generation and the production of energy from renewable sources,










—


TotalEnergies Norge is a subsidiary of TotalEnergies, which is an international integrated energy producer.






3.   

The business activities of the Northern Lights JV are the construction and operation of CO2 transport and permanent storage facilities off the coast of Norway.



4.   
On preliminary examination, the Commission finds that the notified transaction could fall within the scope of the Merger Regulation. However, the final decision on this point is reserved.
Pursuant to the Commission Notice on a simplified treatment for certain concentrations under Council Regulation (EC) No 139/2004 on the control of concentrations between undertakings (2) it should be noted that this case is a candidate for treatment under the procedure set out in the Notice.


5.   
The Commission invites interested third parties to submit their possible observations on the proposed operation to the Commission.
Observations must reach the Commission not later than 10 days following the date of this publication. The following reference should always be specified:
M.11166 – EQUINOR / SHELL / TOTALENERGIES / JV
Observations can be sent to the Commission by email or by post. Please use the contact details below:
Email: COMP-MERGER-REGISTRY@ec.europa.eu

Postal address:





European Commission




Directorate-General for Competition




Merger Registry




1049 Bruxelles/Brussel




BELGIQUE/BELGIË







(1)  
            OJ L 24, 29.1.2004, p. 1 (the ‘Merger Regulation’).

(2)  
            OJ C 160, 5.5.2023, p. 1.


ELI: http://data.europa.eu/eli/C/2024/2648/oj
ISSN 1977-091X (electronic edition)