Meet the US Investors Linked to Koch and Tobacco Making a Play for UK Fracking Firm IGas

picture-25876-1571179299.jpg
on

The Americans are coming, and they’re planting their flags on UK oil fields whether the Brits like it or not.

Famously aggressive US private equity firm Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) is launching a bid to gain control over UK fossil fuel company IGas, against the board’s wishes, the Telegraph reports.

IGas has been at the forefront of recent efforts to establish a somewhat stumbling shale gas industry in the UK, despite government support. It has around 1 million acres of licences to frack for shale gas and exploit coal bed methane in Lancashire and the North West.

What is KKR?

KKR shot to fame in the late 1980s for their part in the largest ever buyout in history at the time, when food and tobacco company RJR Nabisco was purchased for $31 billion.

The deal inspired a film, ‘Barbarians at the Gate’, reflecting on the company’s strategy of leveraging large amounts of debt to force deals through.

Since dabbling in the tobacco industry, KKR has diversified its portfolio and increasingly looks for opportunities in the oil and gas sector.

KKR’s mooted bid for IGas comes just six weeks after it took control of another UK oil and gas company, Expro International Group which operates and maintains wells in the North Sea.

And it already has assets in the US. Just yesterday, an Alabama pipeline part-owned by KKR had a major explosion, killing one person and injuring five others, according to reports by Bloomberg.

The other major owners of that pipeline include Koch Industries and Royal Dutch Shell. Both companies have famously lobbied against climate change regulation.

Score to Settle?

Closer to home, there’s also a potential conflict brewing.

KKR has tasked a different company, Trans European Oil & Gas (TEOG), to actually make the IGas deal happen. On TEOG’s board are three directors who certainly know IGas well.

In 2011, IGas bought the UK’s second largest onshore oil and gas group, Star Energy, which in turn was owned by Petronas.

On Star Energy’s board were Roland Wessel, Colin Judd, and Melvyn Horgan – all now directors of TEOG. All three left Star Energy shortly after the IGas takeover.

So the US company looks set to make its play, using those with existing knowledge of the UK’s fossil fuel industry as a foil.

The question is, what happens next?

Photo: Main image – World Economic Forum via Wikimedia Commons CCBYSA 2.0 | K2 Space via Flickr CC 2.0

Get Weekly News Updates

picture-25876-1571179299.jpg
Mat was DeSmog's Special Projects and Investigations Editor, and Operations Director of DeSmog UK Ltd. He was DeSmog UK’s Editor from October 2017 to March 2021, having previously been an editor at Nature Climate Change and analyst at Carbon Brief.

Related Posts

on

An upcoming city policy review offers the best chance to drop “fundamentally misleading” ads designed to appeal to policy makers and consumers.

An upcoming city policy review offers the best chance to drop “fundamentally misleading” ads designed to appeal to policy makers and consumers.
on

A new Environmental Defence analysis reveals that despite government promises to cut, the amount of taxpayers’ money given to the industry remains high.

A new Environmental Defence analysis reveals that despite government promises to cut, the amount of taxpayers’ money given to the industry remains high.
on

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a major oil refining group, is once again behind a push to keep cars running on oil.

The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers, a major oil refining group, is once again behind a push to keep cars running on oil.
Analysis
on

"Climate the Movie" portrays today’s climate denier agenda by rehashing the same old fossil fuel talking points and trolling the left.

"Climate the Movie" portrays today’s climate denier agenda by rehashing the same old fossil fuel talking points and trolling the left.