Maersk Oil, a subsidiary of AP Møller-Mærsk, said it had agreed to buy the assets for US$2.95 billion.

The deal gives Maersk the rights to 10 production fields and operatorship of five of these. The company's share of the production amounts to a total of 60,000 barrels of oil per day.

Maersk also said it would take over several smaller oil and gas fields, as well as an investigative portfolio of possible oil fields.

Centrica, owner of British Gas, will pay $567 million for interests in four fields which will add about 116 petajoules of gas and 11 million barrels of oil to its total reserves.

Centrica said the takeover of interests in the Andrew, Brae, Buckland and Skene fields was part of a plan to protect itself against further energy price rises. It said the gas reserves, which are expected to last around 10 years, would provide about 2% of British Gas needs while the oil would probably be sold.

Oklahoma City-based Kerr-McGee was a pioneer of North Sea exploration and the region makes up about 20% of the company's total reserves. It said it would use the expected $3.1 billion net cash proceeds to reduce debt and buy back shares.

Kerr-McGee's British activities are operated from offices in Aberdeen and London, employing 500 workers, who will now become Maersk employees.