Shell this morning finalised its $3.8billion North Sea dealwith Harbour Energy-backed Chrysaor Holdings.

The package of assets consists of Shell’s interests inBuzzard, Beryl, Bressay, Elgin-Franklin, J-Area, the Greater Armada cluster,Everest, Lomond and Erskine, plus a 10% stake in Schiehallion

The deal includes an initial consideration of $3billion anda payment of up to $600m between 2018-2021 subject to commodity price, withpotential further payments of up to $180m for future discoveries.

The transaction was backed by private equity fund EIG GlobalEnergy Partners, through its Harbour Energy joint venture with Asian commoditygroup Noble

Through the acquisition, Chrysaor becomes theleading independent oil and gas company in the UK North Sea.

Production from the acquired assets is forecast toaverage approximately 120,000 net barrels of oil equivalent per day for 2017,with current unit operating costs running at less than $15 a barrel.