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MEOG FINANCE & INVESTMENT MEOG
Valeura selling Turkish gas
business to UK-based TBNG
TURKEY OIL and gas explorer Valeura Energy said on Valeura is continuing to look for a new part-
October 20 it has agreed to sell its conventional ner to join it at Banarli, with Guest telling S&P
gas production business in Turkey to UK-based Global Platts in May that it expected offers from
TBNG for $15.5mn in cash. potential partners by the end of 2020.
Under the signed deal, the buyer will pay The transaction to sell the convention gas
Canada-based Valeura an additional $1mn to business will be processed through the sale of
$2.5mn in royalties over a five-year period upon all shares in Thrace Basin Natural Gas (Tur-
the closing of the transaction, Valeura said in a kiye) Corporation and Corporate Resources
statement. Valeura added that it plans to plough B.V. These are the subsidiaries through which
the proceeds from the sale into mergers and Valeura holds its conventional gas production
acquisitions that will accelerate its growth. assets in Turkey.
Valeura plans to develop the deep gas play Valeura is retaining its interest in its 20 trn
at the Banarli block in the Thrace Basin took a cubic feet Tcfe unconventional gas play in the
blow earlier this year when Norwegian partner Thrace Basin. It will also keep access to local gas
Equinor exited the project. The partnership was markets via existing gas transportation and pro-
working on developing the unconventional gas cessing infrastructure for use in its ongoing deep
accumulation following a successful explora- gas appraisal activities.
tion well – Yamalik-1 – announced in 2017. An Valeura expected that the transaction would
appraisal well, Inanli-1, was drilled at the site in be closed in the first quarter of 2021.
2019. Despite Valeura saying subsequent flow “We are continuing in our commitment to
tests from the well and a second well, Devepi- Turkey as we appraise our 20 Tcfe unrisked mean
nar-1, were encouraging, Equinor decided to prospective resource deep tight gas play,” Valeura
exit. CEO Sean Guest said.
SABIC swings back to profit in Q3
SAUDI ARABIA SAUDI petrochemicals giant SABIC returned continued to allow us to meet the challenges fac-
to profit in the three months ending September ing the global economy, while our business and
30, following a string of three straight quarterly operational performance continued to demon-
losses, thanks to the reversal of impairment strate resilience.”
charges. Looking forward, SABIC warned that there
The world’s fourth-biggest petrochemi- was still a global oversupply of its key products
cals manufacturer achieved a 47% jump in and that this would weigh down on prices and
net income to SAR1.09bn ($291mn), up from weaken its margins for the foreseeable future.
SAR740mn a year earlier. Besides the reversal of The petrochemicals sector, like other industries,
SAR690mn in asset impairments, the company’s must adapt to a “new normal,” al-Benyan said.
stronger performance came from higher prices The improved result will be welcomed by
and increased production and sales volumes for Saudi Aramco, which became SABIC’s parent
some products. in June after closing the purchase of a 70% stake
Revenues were still down 11% year on year in the company from Saudi wealth fund PIF for
at SAR29.3bn, although this represented a 19% almost $70bn. Aramco will pay for the shares in
recovery quarter on quarter. EBITDA came to instalments dating all the way to 2028.
SAR5.67bn, marking a 26% decline y/y but a Global demand for petrochemicals is begin-
62% gain q/q. ning to pick up again from lows experienced
“The third quarter of 2020 benefited from earlier this year. But the market is still over-
an improvement in economic activity and an supplied, prompting some operators to scale
increase in oil prices, which translated into back investment plans. Aramco and SABIC
higher product prices,” SABIC CEO Yousef announced earlier this month they were consid-
al-Benyan said in a statement. “During this ering downsizing a $20bn oil-to-chemicals plant
time, the strength of our global supply chain in Yanbu.
P8 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 43 28•October•2020