DONG Energy

DONG Energy (former names: Dansk Naturgas and Dansk Olie og Naturgas (abbreviated as DONG)) is an integrated energy company based in Fredericia, Denmark. It is Denmark's largest energy company.

History

The Danish state-owned company Dansk Naturgas A/S was founded in 1972 to manage gas and oil resources in the Danish sector of the North Sea. After some years, the company was renamed to Dansk Olie og Naturgas A/S (DONG), meaning Danish Oil and Natural Gas. At the beginning of the 2000s (decade), DONG started to expand itself into the electricity market by taking long positions in electricity companies. In 2005, DONG acquired and merged Danish electrical power producers Elsam and Energi E2 and public utility (electricity distribution) companies NESA, Københavns Energi and Frederiksberg Forsyning. The result of the merger was the creation of DONG Energy. The merger was approved by the EU Commission on 14 March 2006.

DONG sold a power cable accessing the world’s largest wind farm to its partners, E.ON and Masdar for around $728 million in September 2013. As part of a restructuring plan—announced in 2013—to cut costs, reduce debt, and bolster investments in wind farms and oil and gas exploration, Dong sold an 18% stake to the US investment bank Goldman Sachs. The sale was unpopular in Denmark's governing coalition and caused protest resignations of six cabinet ministers and the withdrawal of one party (Socialist People’s Party) from the government.