Ineos has joined forces with Shell to drill for new oil and gas in the US as boss Sir Jim Ratcliffe said he was prioritising investment across the pond rather than in Europe. Ineos Energy, the energy division of the chemicals giant, said it had acquired a 21% interest in a portfolio of assets owned by a subsidiary of Shell. The two companies will jointly invest in exploration and production opportunities for oil and gas in the Gulf of Mexico, the body of water which US President Donald Trump has renamed as the Gulf of America. This will include developing Shell’s Fort Sumter oil and gas discovery, drilling into the Sisco exploration well, and looking for another exploration well by the end of 2030. The price of the deal was not disclosed. Ineos said the deal marked the latest step in its deliberate shift of investment to the US, where it has committed more than three billion dollars (£2.2 billion) of investment.…