By Francesca Landini and Robert Harvey
MILAN (Reuters) – Vitol will buy stakes in West African oil and gas assets from Italy’s Eni, bolstering the global commodity trading house’s position in the upstream sector, as it seeks to reinvest the huge profits it has been generating since 2022.
The commodity trader will acquire an interest in oil and gas producing assets and blocks undergoing exploration, appraisal and development in Ivory Coast and the Republic of the Congo, Eni said in a statement on Wednesday.
The deal is Vitol’s latest acquisition. Since the start of this year, it has acquired Asian energy trader Noble Resources and bought a controlling share in Waste Plastic Upcycling. Its big deal last year was the purchase of Italian oil refining and trading company Saras from Italy’s Moratti family.
The deal comes as major commodity traders look to invest their bumper earnings from 2022-2023, when they profited from market dislocations across commodities created by the COVID pandemic, Russia’s war in Ukraine and Europe’s energy crisis. Vitol is yet to release its 2024 results.
The deal was worth $1.65 billion based on a valuation from January 1, 2024, but there would be a cash adjustment at closing, the Italian group said. An Eni spokesperson said the total value of the transaction was expected to reach around $2.7 billion.
“Major trading houses like Vitol seek to secure long-term supply sources from diverse origins. To achieve this, they occasionally take minority stakes in productive assets,” said Jean-Francois Lambert of consultancy Lambert Commodities.
“Besides, the investment will not place a significant strain on Vitol’s financial reserves.”
The deal includes the Baleine project in Ivory Coast, where Eni has a 77.25% ownership interest and Vitol will acquire a 30% stake, and the Congo liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the Republic of the Congo, where Eni has a 65% stake and Vitol will acquire a 25% interest.
The agreement is part of Eni’s ‘dual exploration model’ strategy, which is based on spinning off stakes in high-potential oil and gas projects to get rapid income from its exploration discoveries.
Sources at the Italian energy group told Reuters last year that Eni could sell stakes in its upstream projects in Ivory Coast and Indonesia.
Eni and Vitol are already partners in the OCTP and Block 4 projects in Ghana. The latest agreement further consolidates cooperation between the two companies in West Africa.
The giant Baleine field in Ivory Coast was discovered in 2021 and current hydrocarbon production there exceeds 60,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. It is Eni’s first development in Ivory Coast, and the first net-zero development in Africa.
Congo LNG started exporting liquefied gas in February 2024. It currently produces 1 billion cubic metres (BCM) per year of LNG.
(Reporting by Francesca Landini and Robert Harvey. Editing by Gavin Jones and Mark Potter)
