Total announced on Thursday the closing of the US$7.5-billion acquisition of Denmark’s Maersk Oil that adds 1 billion barrels of oil equivalent reserves and resources to the French oil major’s portfolio and makes it the second-largest operator in the North Sea. Under the terms of the share and debt transaction , announced in August 2017 and effective as of today, Total will pay the seller—A.P. Moller-Maersk—US$4.95 billion in Total shares, or around 97.5 million shares, and will assume US$2.5 billion of Maersk Oil’s debt. The deal is the biggest North Sea-weighted deal since the Statoil/Norsk Hydro merger in 2006, energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said after the transaction was first announced. The acquisition boosts Total’s presence in the UK and Norwegian North Sea and allows it to enter Denmark, making the French company the second-largest operator in the North Sea with production of 500,000 boed by 2020, behind Norway’s Statoil. […]