Monthly deal round-up, November 2022- Renewable Energy & Oil and Gas, by Wesley Johnson
I hope that you are having a happy holiday season and that your year ahead will be your best one yet. 🎉
November’s deal round-up and market trends could not be more transparent than the ocean surrounding Fulhadhoo island in the Maldives.
Funders continue to deploy their mandates into sunnier and windier shores, whilst the super majors are driving their 16-wheelers around looking to offload some of their assets to spare some green capital.
IEA’s World Energy Investment report back in June predicted that global energy investments will exceed $2.4 trillion in 2022, and new investments in renewable energy reached a record half-year of $226 billion in H1 of 2022 according to BloombergNEF’s Renewable Energy Investment tracker.
The super majors continue ramping up their energy transition initiatives as they seek to divest their assets in favour of alternative energies. For example, in recent weeks, TotalEnergies divested 60% of its operating interest in the Dunga oil field in Kazakhstan to focus more on its renewable energy developments in the country and signed an agreement to develop the largest wind energy project initiated in Kazakhstan known as the Mirny project.
Shell has been shedding its more carbon-intensive assets this year, selling its refinery in Washington state to Holly Corp, its stake in a Houston area refining joint venture to Petroleos Mexicanos, and its recent exit from the Permian Basin as it shifts its focus to renewables and power. Furthermore, Shell and ExxonMobil have agreed to sell their joint venture, Aera Energy which includes more than 23000 wells in California to IKAV for an estimated $4 billion. This comes at a time when ExxonMobil have also ramped up their efforts to focus on, low-cost-of-supply oil and natural gas to maximize profits and free up some capital to deploy into lower carbon assets.
Conversely, a few energy independents are capitalising on some of these exits mentioned above, as they seek to benefit from surging global oil and gas prices due to market disruptions fuelled by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Examples include the likes of UK energy explorer Waldorf, seeking up to $2 billion for M&A opportunities, and Marathon Oil recently snatching up on Ensign’s Eagle Ford assets in the US for $3 billion.
And in Germany’s latest move to secure alternative energy supplies away from Russia, they recently signed a $3 billion deal with trading firm Trafigura for them to supply gas to Europe over the next 4 years. This illustrates the latest move by commodity traders to try and help Germany secure resources.
Further details about the above-mentioned energy deals including many more for November can be found in my monthly deal round-up below. 👇
Renewable Energy Deals
- UK’s Lightsource to invest $3 billion to develop 3 GW of power generation in India
UK-based project developer Lightsource has announced its expansion into India’s rapidly growing solar market with an investment of $3 billion to develop 3 GW’s of power over the next 5 years.
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- Solar Energy Corporation of India has signed PSA’s for 1 GW of wind projects
SECI has signed power sale agreements for 1-GW of wind projects tendered in the country’s second wind power auction. Winners in the tender included; ReNew Power, Orange Sironj, Inox Wind, Green Infra and Adani Green.
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- Brookfield signs 600MW deal with Amazon
Brookfield Renewable will provide more than 600MW of clean wind and solar energy capacity to power Amazon’s operations in Europe, North America and India.
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- Orsted aims to launch a $518.6 million offering of green securities
Orsted plans to launch a $518.6 million offering of green hybrid capital securities, seeking to raise funds for new renewable energy investments.
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- Qualitas Energy raises $1.13 billion for fifth flagship fund
Qualitas Energy, a Spanish private equity firm specialised in renewable energy investments, reached the first close of its fifth flagship fund with more than $1.1 billion. Fund V primarily focuses on furthering renewable technologies across Europe and in particular, Germany, the UK, Spain, Italy and Poland.
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- AMEA Power completes $1.1 billion solar and wind deal
The 500MW wind and 500MW solar projects, represent $1.1 billion of investment into the Egyptian economy and takes the company’s clean energy portfolio to 2GW in the country. The project is been financed by IFC, FMO and JICA.
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- KORE Power raises $75 million to build gigafactory
Kore Power has announced its successful capital raise of $75 million of its $150 million investment round with Siemens as the lead investor and joined by Quanta Services. Kore intends to use the proceeds of the funding round to commence the construction of its KOREPlex gigafactory. The KOREPlex will be amongst the first U.S. Battery cell gigafactory built independently of an automotive OEM.
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- Leeward Secures financing for 296MW of solar PV projects in the US
Leeward Renewable Energy has received around $420 million in construction-to-term financing from MUFG Bank for its Big Plain solar facility in Ohio. Furthermore, Leeward has also secured a $195 million tax equity commitment from Wells Fargo for its Oak Trail solar project in North Carolina.
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- The UK Government has awarded $39.7 million in funding to five innovative energy storage projects
The Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) has awarded a total of $39.7 million to five innovative energy storage projects for the second phase of its longer-duration energy storage competition. Through this funding incentive, the UK hopes to encourage cutting-edge innovative storage technologies that can help increase the resilience of the UK’s electricity grid whilst maximising value for money.
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- Solarise Africa has raised a $33.4 million debt facility
Solarise Africa which offers energy as a service to businesses in Africa has raised a $33.4 million debt facility to solidify its position in the commercial and industrial solar market in Kenya and augment its activities across Africa.
Oil & Gas Deals
- Trafigura signs $3 billion loan to supply Germany’s Sefe
Trading firm Trafigura Group has signed a $3 billion German-backed loan to supply gas to Europe over the next 4 years. This is German’s latest move to secure an alternative supply away from Russia.
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- ExxonMobil sells Santa Ynez field in California to Sable Offshore for $643 million
Flame Acquisition Corp, a Houston-based SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) has agreed to buy the Santa Ynez oilfield from ExxonMobil. The business will be renamed Sable Offshore. The Santa Ynez oilfield consists of 3 offshore platforms located 12 miles off the coast near Santa Barbara and an offshore processing facility at Las Flores Canyon. This deal comes at a time when ExxonMobil looks to shift its investment strategy into less costly and emission-intensive assets.
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- TotalEnergies sells 60% interest in the Dunga oil field to Oriental Sunrise Corp Ltd for $330 million
Total Energies has agreed to sell 60% operating interest in the Dunga oil field in Kazakhstan to a Kazakh company. Oriental Corp Ltd. For $330 million while strengthening its presence in renewable energy in the country. In addition to its two solar power plants in operation in Kazakhstan, Total signed an agreement to develop the Mirny project, the largest wind energy project ever initiated in Kazakhstan with a total of 1 GW installed capacity
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- Total Energies sells its fuel retail business in Mauritania to Akwa Africa for $185 million
North African, Akwa Group is set to acquire Total Energies fuel retail business in Mauritania. When concluded it will see Akwa Energy acquire roughly 40 branches operated by Total in the country.
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- KKR seeking buyers for Canadian gas producer Westbrick Energy
KKR is looking to sell Canadian oil and gas producer Westbrick Energy Ltd to capitalise on higher energy prices, in a potential deal valued at around $1.13 billion to $1.5 billion.
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- Diamondback Energy has acquired Lario Permian for $1.5 billion
This deal comes shortly after Diamondback Energy said it would acquire all interests and assets from Firebird Energy for $1.6 billion. Both acquisitions will grow Diamondbacks Midland basin footprint by approximately 83,000 net acres and add 500 high-quality drilling assets to their portfolio.
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- Waldorf seeks to raise up to $2 billion as it looks to acquire additional assets in the North Sea
Waldorf looks to raise $2 billion to augment its asset base in the North Sea during a period where larger energy players in the region look to sell off their oil and gas projects to raise capital for renewable projects.
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- Marathon Oil acquires Eagle Ford assets of Ensign Natural Resources for $3 billion
The acquisition is expected to double Marathon Oil’s position in the Eagle ford shale basin in South Texas and cover over 600 undrilled locations, representing more than 15 years of inventory life
