Norwegian energy company Equinor has agreed to divest its interests in the US Bakken shale oil province in a deal worth $900 million (£650m).

The deal covers all of Equinor’s operated and non-operated acreage, located in the states of North Dakota and Montana, totalling 242,000 net acres and associated midstream assets in the Bakken, which will be sold to Grayson Mill Energy, a company backed by private equity firm EnCap Investments.

Entitlement production from the assets in the fourth quarter of 2020 was 48,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day.

Anders Opedal, President and CEO of Equinor said: “Equinor is optimising its oil and gas portfolio to strengthen profitability and make it more robust for the future. By divesting our Bakken position, we are realising proceeds that can be deployed towards more competitive assets in our portfolio, enabling us to deliver increased value creation for our shareholders.

“Over the past few years, we have improved the safety, cost efficiency and CO2 intensity of the Bakken assets significantly and I am confident Grayson Mill Energy will continue on this path.”

The deal is subject to approvals from relevant authorities.