Maersk Oil CEO Optimistic on Tyra Field Tax Relief

Maersk Oil, the energy arm of A.P. Moller-Maersk, said on Thursday it remains optimistic it will secure a tax deal by the end of the year allowing it to continue production at the Tyra gas field in the Danish part of the North Sea.

Maersk Oil said in April it would cease production permanently at Denmark's largest gas field on Oct. 1, 2018, if an economically viable solution for continued operations was not identified in 2016.

"I remain quite optimistic that a solution will be found," Maersk Oil Chief Executive Gretchen Watkins told Reuters in an interview.

She compared the situation to last year when Maersk Oil managed to agree a deal with the British government to develop the Culzean gas field.

"The industry and the government came together there and found a mutually beneficial solution that allows us to have a project that will provide an acceptable return for Maersk Oil but also of great benefit to the UK," she said.

In September, Danish energy and climate minister Lars Christian Lilleholt told Reuters that the government is determined to find an economically viable solution for Maersk, but the minority government is currently bogged down over talks on the 2017 budget.

Tyra is Denmark's largest gas field and more than 90 percent of the country's gas production is processed through a facility serving the field.

The Tyra field is operated by Maersk Oil on behalf of the Danish Underground Consortium, a partnership between Maersk, Royal Dutch Shell (RYDAF), Denmark's Nordsofonden and Chevron Corp.

Reporting by Jacob Gronholt-Pedersen