Maersk's Big Oil Exit Comes With a $1.2 Billion Ball-and-Chain

A.P. Moller-Maersk A/S is about to exit the Danish offshore oil industry that it created half a century ago. But for the next few decades, it will be stuck with a liability that’s as big as $1.2 billion stemming from that business.

Maersk on Friday won a key approval to sell its energy unit to Total S.A., with the Danish Energy Agency giving the green light to the $8 billion deal. But the authority made it a condition that Maersk pay for the eventual decommissioning of North Sea infrastructure (such as platforms and pipes), if Total can’t when the time comes.