Europe’s Oil & Gas industry receives it’s booster jab

July 21, 2022

Monthly Deal Round-up for June 2022 –  Oil & Gas deals, by Wesley Johnson

During April and May of 2022, the global oil and gas industry pocketed a generous $15.6bn worth of deals, according to GlobalData’s deals database. Europe seems to be at the forefront, seeing a rise of 45.83% in deal activity during May 2022 with a total of 35 oil and gas deals worth $7.1 bn, against a 12-month average of only 24 deals.

Research suggests that Europe’s rise in deal activity is a result of their Usain Bolt-like sprint for alternative energy resources as they look to reduce their dependence on their Russian neighbours amid increasing tensions relating to the war in Ukraine.

Russia cut gas flows by 60% in mid-June, citing technical issues, and halted supplies to several EU countries over payment disputes following European sanctions which as a result, has caused some supply challenges for Europe. Moreover, recently, Russia cited that they will be continuing to reduce supply due to planned maintenance work which is causing some concern for the BLOC regarding whether gas supplies could be reduced or even worse, cut off permanently.

Returning to the monthly round-up below, I have highlighted a few of the oil and gas industry’s top deals for April and May of 2022, according to GlobalData’s deal database.

 

                                                    Europe

Ithaca Energy acquires Siccar Point Energy for $1.46bn

This acquisition will see Israeli-owned Ithaca acquire a majority stake in the controversial Cambo oil field, along with a package of other UK offshore assets. The overall impact of the acquisition is expected to double Ithaca’s recoverable reserves and support the production of 80,000-90,000 b/d of oil equivalent (BOE/D) over the next decade, the company said, up from 56,500 BOE/D the previous year.

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Lanxess and Advent International join forces to acquire DEM from Dutch group Royal DSM

Chemicals company LANXESS and Advent International (“Advent”), one of the largest and most experienced global private equity investors with a well-established track record in chemicals investing, established a joint venture for high-performance engineering polymers. The two companies signed an agreement to acquire the DSM Engineering Materials business (DEM) from the Dutch group Royal DSM, which will become part of the new joint venture. The purchase price is around EUR 3.7 billion and will be financed by the joint venture, via equity from Advent and external debt

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KNB Group Bhd to sell its stake in Borsig to GPR Siebzigste Verwaltungsgesellschaft for $223 Million

In a stock exchange filing on Tuesday (May 24), the group announced that its wholly-owned indirect subsidiary Deutsche KNM GmbH entered into a conditional sale, purchase and transfer agreement with GSV. The proposed sale of 15 shares representing a 100% equity interest in Borsig to GSV may result in an estimated loss of approximately RM490.55 million for KNM, which includes part of the goodwill of RM355.74 million, which was impaired in December last year.

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Carbon Clean raises $150m in record carbon capture funding

Carbon Clean, a global leader in cost-effective carbon capture solutions, has closed the largest ever equity funding round for a point source carbon capture company, taking a major step towards its goal of delivering industrial decarbonisation on a gigatonne scale by the mid-2030s.

Carbon Clean has raised $150m from existing investor Chevron, who led the round, alongside CEMEX Ventures, Marubeni Corporation and WAVE Equity Partners and new investors, AXA IM Alts, Samsung Ventures, Saudi Aramco Energy Ventures and TC Energy. To date, Carbon Clean has raised $195m, having closed its $30m Series B investment round in August 2021

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Judges Scientific PLC acquires Geotek for $99.92m

Judges Scientific, the group focused on acquiring and developing companies in the scientific instrument sector, announces that it has today acquired the entire issued share capital of Geotek Holding Limited and Geotek Coring Limited (together “Geotek” or the “Acquisition“), a world-leading developer and manufacturer of instruments used to measure and log various characteristics of geological cores and a supplier of related services. The Board expects the Acquisition to be materially earnings enhancing in the current financial year

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                                               North America

Delek Logistics Partners acquires 3Bear Delaware Holding for $624.7m

3Bear’s asset base includes approximately 485 miles of pipelines, 88 million cubic feet per day of cryogenic natural gas processing capacity, 120 MBbl of crude storage capacity and 200 MBbl/d of water disposal capacity.

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Ergon acquires a 68% stake in Bluenight Energy Partners

Blueknight Energy Partners, L.P. (“Blueknight” or the “Partnership”) (Nasdaq: BKEP and BKEPP) today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement and plan of merger (“Merger Agreement”) according to which an affiliate of Ergon, Inc. (“Ergon”) would acquire all of the outstanding common and preferred units of the Partnership not already owned by Ergon and its affiliates (the “Public Common Units” and “Public Preferred Units”). The agreement follows the offer made by Ergon in October 2021 to acquire the Public Common Units and Public Preferred Units.

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SilverBow resources announce acquisitions of Sundance Energy and Sandpoint Resources

SilverBow Resources, Inc. (NYSE: SBOW) (“SilverBow” or “the Company”) has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire substantially all of the assets of Sundance Energy, Inc. and certain affiliated entities (collectively, “Sundance”) for a total purchase price of $354 million and up to $15 million of contingent payments based on future commodity prices. The Sundance transaction, which is expected to close in the third quarter of 2022, has been unanimously approved by the Boards of Directors of both companies.

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                                              Asia-Pacific             

Adani Ports to acquire a 100% stake in Ocean Sparkle

Adani Ports and Special Economic Zone (APSEZ) through its subsidiary, The Adani Harbour Services (TAHSL), has entered into a definitive agreement for the acquisition of a 100% stake in Ocean Sparkle (OSL), India’s leading third-party marine services provider.

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Petronas Chemicals Group acquires Perstorp for $2.39bn

PETRONAS Chemicals Group Berhad (PCG) signed a Securities Purchase Agreement on 14 May 2022 to acquire the entire equity interest in Perstorp Holding AB, a leading sustainability-driven global specialty chemicals company with Financière Forêt S.à.r.l, a company under PAI Partners, a European private equity firm. The acquisition values Perstorp Group at an enterprise value of EUR2,300.0 million, which is equivalent to RM10,496.1 million

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Although our dear friend Africa did not feature in this month’s round-up, they are sure not to be forgotten.

As a result of the pandemic and the renewed interest in African natural resources on the back of the unfortunate war in Ukraine, there has been a plethora of activity on the continent this year.

Higher for longer oil prices have unlocked the M&A market on the continent, especially for well-established players in the sector. Deals worth mentioning include the likes of Savannah Energy’s acquisition of the entire upstream and midstream asset portfolio of ExxonMobil and Petronas in Chad and Cameroon. These deals were valued at some $626m. Furthermore, earlier this year, Seplat Energy announced a proposed acquisition of Mobil producing Nigeria for $1,283bn, in what is set to be the biggest deal of the year globally once finalised.

Although a focus on brownfield assets seems to be favoured, given the lower risk, don’t take your eyes off Namibia, Zimbabwe and South Africa who are quickly becoming exploration hotspots on the continent.

Stay tuned for further deal updates and upcoming energy projects from around the globe.