Enterprise Oil was a major UK independent exploration and production company based in

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

, with core areas of activity in the United Kingdom and Ireland, mainland Europe, Brazil and the

Gulf of Mexico The Gulf of Mexico () is an oceanic basin and a marginal sea of the Atlantic Ocean, mostly surrounded by the North American continent. It is bounded on the northeast, north, and northwest by the Gulf Coast of the United States; on the southw ...

. The company was once a constituent of the

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but was acquired by

Royal Dutch Shell Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company, headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New ...

History

Enterprise Oil was formed in 1983 to exploit the

North Sea oil North Sea oil is a mixture of hydrocarbons, comprising liquid petroleum and natural gas, produced from petroleum reservoirs beneath the North Sea. In the petroleum industry, the term "North Sea" often includes areas such as the Norwegian ...

production assets of the then state-owned

British Gas plc British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

: it was privatised and its shares first listed on the

London Stock Exchange The London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange based in London, England. the total market value of all companies trading on the LSE stood at US$3.42 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Paul's Cath ...

in February 1984. In 1994 the company was involved in a high-profile but unsuccessful bid to acquire

Lasmo Lasmo plc was a British oil and gas exploration and production business. It was listed on the London Stock Exchange and was a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index. History The Company was founded in 1971 as London and Scottish Marine Oil (LASM ...

. The

Corrib gas field The Corrib gas project () is a developed natural gas deposit located in the Atlantic Ocean, approximately off the northwest coast of County Mayo, Ireland. The project includes a natural gas pipeline and an onshore gas processing plant, which com ...

was discovered off the coast of Ireland by Enterprise Oil in 1996, and has proved especially troublesome for Shell (see

Corrib gas controversy The Corrib gas controversy was a social protest campaign against the Corrib gas project in north-western County Mayo, Ireland. The project involves the processing of gas onshore through Broadhaven and Sruth Fada Conn bays in Kilcommon. Orig ...

). In the last few years of the company's existence it was also investing significant sums in its Brazilian oil interests. The Most Reverend Justin Welby,

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

and former

Bishop of Durham The bishop of Durham is head of the diocese of Durham in the province of York. The diocese is one of the oldest in England and its bishop is a member of the House of Lords. Paul Butler (bishop), Paul Butler was the most recent bishop of Durham u ...

, served as Group Treasurer from 1984 to 1987. The company was purchased by

for £3.5bn in 2002.

Operations

The company had interests in some 41 fields, mainly in the

North Sea The North Sea lies between Great Britain, Denmark, Norway, Germany, the Netherlands, Belgium, and France. A sea on the European continental shelf, it connects to the Atlantic Ocean through the English Channel in the south and the Norwegian Se ...

; it had also made at least one major discovery in the

. It was initially based in London but whilst keeping its head office there, in 1998 it moved its UK operations to its office in Aberdeen.Enterprise Oil job fears
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References

Defunct oil and gas companies of the United Kingdom Oil and gas companies of Scotland Companies based in Aberdeen Former Shell plc subsidiaries British companies established in 1983 Energy companies established in 1983 Non-renewable resource companies established in 1983 Non-renewable resource companies disestablished in 2002 1983 establishments in Scotland 2002 disestablishments in Scotland Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange 2002 mergers and acquisitions {{Scotland-hist-stub