LNG

Tlou Energy, the company developing projects in Sub-Saharan Africa, said the Lesedi gas-to-power project remained on track to get natural gas-fired power into the grid in Botswana from the southern African nation’s own coal-seam gas (CSG), a resource that is used by companies in Australia to produce and export LNG.

Savannah Energy plc, the British independent energy company focused around the delivery of projects in Africa, has signed a share purchase agreement with a unit of Petronas to acquire the Malaysian energy company’s entire South Sudan oil and gas portfolio.

South Sudan is a landlocked nation in East Africa and has only in recent times gained independence.

Savannah Energy’s purchase covers the acquisition of Petronas Carigali Nile Limited for a total cash consideration of up to US$1.25 billion, subject to certain completion adjustments.

“The transaction is expected to be financed through a combination of the enlarged group’s available cash resources and debt,” said a statement.

Savannah is already active with current operations in other African nations such as Chad, Niger, Cameroon and Nigeria.

The London-based company explained that the transaction was conditional upon the satisfaction of certain conditions including approval by the Government of the Republic of South Sudan, the approval of Savannah’s shareholders and re-admission to trading on the London Stock Exchange’s Alternative Investment Market (AIM) taking effect.

China partners

Completion of the transaction would result in the company acquiring PCNL’s interests in three joint operating companies (JOCs) which operate Block 3/7 (40 percent working interest), Block 1/2/4 (30 percent) and Block 5A (67.9 percent) in South Sudan.

The Petronas assets comprise of interests in 64 producing fields, with first production having commenced in 1999.

In 2021, the Petronas assets produced an average gross 153.2 thousand barrels of oil per day.

The major partners in the JOCs include India’s Oil and Natural Gas Corp., two Chinese majors, China National Petroleum Corp. and China Petroleum & Chemical Corp (Sinopec) and Nilepet, the national oil company of South Sudan.

“The transaction constitutes a reverse takeover pursuant to AIM Rule 14 and, accordingly, will be subject to, inter alia, shareholder approval,” added Savannah.

Trading in the company’s ordinary shares were suspended from trading on AIM on December 12.

Savannah also explained that it intended to publish an AIM Admission Document in the first-half of 2023, which would contain a notice of a general meeting at which shareholder approval shall be sought and following which the company would seek restoration to trading on AIM of its ordinary shares.

Australian natural gas producer Po Valley Energy said its London-listed subsidiary would start production in the coming days at the Bezzecca gas field near Milan in northern Italy in a small-scale domestic resource challenge to LNG and pipeline gas imported from North Africa.

Australian natural gas producer, Po Valley Energy, successfully listed its Italian gas subsidiary, Saffron Energy, on the Alternative Investment Market of the London Stock Exchange in a share offering that was oversubscribed and ended its first day of trading at close to a 50 percent premium.