Independent
oil and gas company Perenco has snapped up the Vietnam-based assets of
ConocoPhillips, beating heavy-duty competitors including PetroVietnam and
TNK-BP to the punch.
US-backed ConocoPhillips announced that it had
reached a billion-dollar plus agreement to offload its assets in Vietnam to
Perenco, an oil and gas company with operations in 16 countries across the
globe.
In its statement, ConocoPhillips said the sale
of assets in Vietnam was a part of ConocoPhillips’s ongoing strategy to create
shareholder value.
The company said that the Vietnam business
unit was sold at a total of $1.29 billion plus customary working capital
adjustments. However, previously ConocoPhillips expected that those assets
would have total valued at up to $1.5 billion.
ConocoPhillips will now sell its three
wholly-owned subsidiaries that separately hold a 23.25 per cent participating
interest in Block 15-1, a 36 per cent participating interest in Block 15-2, and
a 16.3 per cent participating interest in Nam Con Son pipeline, the company
said. It expected the transaction to go ahead in the first half of 2012.
“The sale of our Vietnam business unit is an
important component of our $15-20 billion 2010-2012 asset divestiture programme.
ConocoPhillips has conducted business in Vietnam for more than 15 years, and we
are pleased that Perenco has recognised the value of these quality assets,”
said Al Hirshberg, senior vice president, planning and Strategy,
ConocoPhillips.
Many competitors had eyed on ConocoPhillips
assets in Vietnam over the last two years, including PetroVietnam and TNK–BP.
PetroVietnam as the host country had priority rights in the sale. But the
group’s chairman Phung Dinh Thuc said that he would not “get these assets at
any price”.
In 2010-2011, ConocoPhillips’ asset
divestiture programme yielded $10.7 billion in proceeds. Along with a $9.5
billion sale of shares in Russian Lukoil, this gave the US firm total
dispositions of $20.2 billion over the period.
Bich Ngoc | vir.com.vn
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