Page 9 - AfrOil Week 46 2021

AfrOil POLICY AfrOil

The National Union of Petroleum & Natural due to Rabat – the low price may have been
Gas Industries (SNIPGN) accused the previous justifiable.
administration of “evasion and passivity” on The offers appeared to expire with little fan-
the matter. Earlier this month, SNIPGN secre- fare while in May 2020, the judge appointed
tary-general Houcine El Yamani told Jeune Afri- to the liquidation accepted a state offer to rent
que: “So far, we have not received any response SAMIR’s 2mn cubic metre storage facilities as
from the head of government, nor from the Morocco sought to insulate consumers from oil
minister responsible for the energy transition.” price volatility.
In its report, the publication pointed out that In April this year, a New York court of appeal
the case is likely to be of significant interest to reversed a July 2020 ruling that US investment
Akhannouch whose company Afriquia owns firm Carlyle Group could not appeal that insur-
the largest network of fuel stations in Morocco. ance should cover its $396mn loss from SAMIR’s
SAMIR’s doors closed as debts had left it una- liquidation.
ble to finance fresh purchases of crude feedstock According to court documents, the July
and Saudi-Ethiopian majority owner Mohamed 2020 decision by Justice O. Peter Sherwood to
al-Amoudi reneged on a promised capital injec- reject Carlyle’s assertion that its oil had in effect
tion. Al-Amoudi’s Sweden-based Corrall Petro- been stolen by SAMIR had been “unanimously
leum Holdings held a 67% stake in the company. reversed”.
In late September 2016, Corrall’s legal ave- The plaintiffs (Carlyle) sought to “recover
nues were exhausted, as the Court of Cassation excess marine cargo insurance policy for losses
confirmed the verdict, ruling that the wind-up they sustained when a Moroccan oil refinery
should proceed. Creditors owed part of SAMIR’s became insolvent. Under the arrangement
estimated MAD44bn ($4.6bn) debt queued up between plaintiff Carlyle Commodities Man-
to have their claims validated by the courts in agement LLC, then known as Vermillion Asset
order to secure a slice of the proceeds from the Management LLC, and the refinery, Carlyle
sell-off. would pay for crude oil that the refinery had
On July 31, 2018, the Casablanca Commer- contracted to purchase from third-party suppli-
cial Court of Appeal ruled that the local Banque ers, and the refinery would subsequently repur-
Centrale Populaire (BCP) – a major lender to chase the oil from Carlyle.”
the company – had obtained valid guarantees The fund filed a claim with its insurers Lloyd’s
against lending of MAD1.2bn ($132mn) of debt, of London to recover the value of the crude “after
out of total borrowings from the bank of around the Moroccan government froze the refinery’s
MAD2.9bn ($307mn). BCP thereby secured a bank accounts, rendering the refinery unable to
place as a senior creditor, with privileged claims repurchase the commodities”.
on liquidated assets. A month earlier Glen- In September 2020, London-based infra-
core – another major creditor – had a claim of structure financer Elite Capital broke off talks
MAD2.2bn ($233mn) validated. to acquire SAMIR’s assets following two years of
Then in 2019, trading giants Glencore and discussions, citing a “flaw” in the proposed deal.
Trafigura submitted lowball bids of $14.99mn
and $11.7mn respectively to acquire the refin- Russian deal
ery only for little-known British firm Exol Lubri- While the writing appears to (still) be on the
cants to make an even lower offer of $8.23mn. wall for the Mohammedia plant, a deal appears
Each of these were a far cry from the administra- to remain in place between state-run Russian
tor’s initial asset valuation of $2.5-3bn and were development bank VEB and MYA Energy, a
seen as derisory, though with much the $4.6bn subsidiary of the local Marita Group, for the
of debts still outstanding – $1.4bn of which was establishment of a 100,000 bpd unit.

SAMIR’s refinery has a capacity of 200,000 bpd (Photo: SAMIR)

Week 46 17•November•2021 www. NEWSBASE .com P9