Page 16 - EurOil Week 42 2022

EurOil PROJECTS & COMPANIES EurOil

Rosneft sues Germany for asset takeover

RUSSIA RUSSIAN state oil major Rosneft has sued the MiRo (24%) and Bayernoil (28.57%). These
German government for the transfer of two Ros- enterprises account for about 12% of oil refining
Germany took control neft’s subsidiaries to the German Federal Net- in Germany, making Rosneft one of the largest
of the assets citing work Agency (Bundesnetzagentur), Vedomosti oil refiners in the country.
concerns about its daily reported citing Handelsblatt. A Vedomosti source at a consulting company
energy security. As followed by bne IntelliNews, the Ger- estimated the value of Rosneft's assets in Ger-
man government has placed Rosneft’s refining many to be more than $7bn, "taking into account
interests in the country under state trusteeship, the current refining margins". The award claimed
arguing the step was necessary to shore up the by Rosneft is not disclosed, but previous Rosneft
country’s energy security. reports claimed to have invested €4.6bn in the
Reportedly Rosneft has taken legal action refining projects in Germany. ™
and sued the German government at the federal
administrative court in Leipzig. The plaintiff
believes that the actions of the German authori-
ties "have no legal justification, because the com-
pany continues to supply oil to Germany despite
the geopolitical situation".
To remind, Rosneft Deutschland GmbH
(RDG) and RN Refining & Marketing GmbH
(RNRM) have been placed under the trust man-
agement of the German regulator. Christoph
Morgen, a partner in the law firm Brinkmann &
Partners, has been appointed managing director
of both Rosneft subsidiaries.
Rosneft's German subsidiaries have a con-
trolling interest in the refinery PCK Schwedt
(54.17%) and also hold shares in the refineries

CNOOC eyes sale of North Sea

assets to Equinor

UK CHINA’S state-owned CNOOC is mulling the region, which it entered in 2013 with the acquisi-
sale of UK oil assets to Norway’s Equinor, the tion of Canada’s Nexen. The $15bn purchase was
The deal price could be Norwegian press reported on October 17, citing at the time the biggest foreign business takeover
as much as $3bn. sources as saying the deal price was NOK20- by a foreign company. Nexen changed its name
30bn ($1.9-2.9bn). to CNOOC International in 2019. ™
China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC)
holds interests in a number of UK North Sea
fields including Buzzard, one of the largest in the
region, as well as Golden Eagle, Scott and Tel-
ford. According to Norway’s Dagens Naeringsliv
newspaper, Equinor is “one of at least two com-
panies” bidding for the assets. Analysts have pre-
viously speculated that Harbour Energy, NEO
Energy, Waldorf Production and Ithaca Energy
would be among the likely contenders. Buzzard
in particular is seen as a promising acquisition
target.
In March, Reuters reported that Bank of
America had been hired to undertake the for-
mal sale of the assets. But the following month
CNOOC said it had no plans to pull out of the

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