Senegalese Oil: The State has not yet blessed the transfer of ConocoPhilips rights to
Woodside
Source:: Seneweb.com | November 14, 2016 at 6:11:47 | Read 1429 times | 8 Comments
The geography of the capital of the "Rufisque offshore", "Sangomar offshore" and "Deep offshore Sangomar" has not yet changed. ConocoPhilips, which owns 35% of the rights with Cairn (40%), Far (15%) and Petrosen (10%), wishes to sell them to Woodside. But the state has not yet given its blessing.
Has Woodside Energy gone too fast? On October 31, the Australian operator announced on the Sidney stock exchange that it had finalized the acquisition of the rights of the American group ConocoPhilips on the oil blocks "Rufisque offshore", "Sangomar offshore profonde" and "Sangomar offshore" . It set the amount of the transaction at $ 350 million ($ 210 billion CFA) plus $ 90 million (CFAF 54 billion) of additional adjustments.
This announcement provoked a strong reaction from Far Limited, the other Australian operator who holds 15% of the rights in question. In a statement signed by its CEO, Cath Norman, Far stated that "a valid right of pre-emption notice was not issued by (ConocoPhilips) to its partners" before suggesting that the State of Senegal Which, through Petrosen, holds 10% of the blocks, has not yet given its approval.
Sources contacted by SeneWeb argue that Far is right. "Woodside announced an agreement that does not yet exist, corrects one of our interlocutors. The parties are negotiating. The state has asked them to find common ground. If an agreement had been reached, the State would have announced it. "
Obstacle course
Several steps must be taken before such an agreement. When a rights holder (ConacoPhilips, in this case) wishes to transfer its shares, it expresses its intention by informing its partners and making available to them all documents relating thereto (offer of transfer received from another company, Technical documents, etc.). In addition, the Association Agreement defining the relations between the stakeholders requires it to propose the rights to be transferred first to its partners.
They have 30 days to decide. If one of them chooses to exercise his right of pre-emption, he can automatically buy the equivalent of the shares he owns at the time of the transfer, or even more if the other partners do not want any remaining rights. Otherwise, the transferee may have recourse to other companies. Which, in the event of agreement, shall each provide the Government with all information concerning their technical and financial capacities, in particular.
Once this stage has been reached, the State verifies the conformity of the information made available to it. And if everything is in order, the Minister of Energy takes a decree to validate the transaction. Then, last step, the decree regulating the transfer of the blocks in question is updated. A real journey of the fighter.
Unmissable Far
"All this has not yet been done," said a senior adviser contacted by SeneWeb. "Woodside may have made this announcement on purpose to put pressure on its interlocutors in the negotiations," said a Petrosen executive who requested anonymity. Rufisque offshore, offshore Sangomar and deep offshore Sangomar are currently owned by Cairn (40%), ConocoPhilips (35%), Far (15%) and Petrosen (10%). We learn that when ConocoPhilips decided to cede its rights, Cairn would have clearly indicated that he was not interested. It is already known that Petrosen, not participating in the investment in exploration phase, will not be able to pre-empt. Thus, in the capital of the three blocks, only Far is in a position to redeem all or part of the rights to be transferred. This obliges ConocoPhilips to discuss with him.
FAR Price at posting:
7.1¢ Sentiment: Buy Disclosure: Held
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