Negotiations to sell BP’s assets in Egypt fail

The UK’s SDX Energy yesterday announced that its recent attempts to buy some of British Petroleum (BP)’s Egyptian assets have failed.

“Discussions regarding our [SDX] proposed acquisition of a significant package of assets in Egypt from BP have been terminated by mutual agreement,” SDX said in a statement.

The company did not provide further details on why the talks were ended.

Earlier in the year, Reuters cited banking sources as saying that BP was seeking buyers for its 50-year-old stake in the oil and gas business in Egypt, valued at around $500 million.

Neither SDX nor BP provided details on which assets the talks discussed.

Read: Egypt takes measures to protect against unstable oil prices

“Clearly it’s disappointing that this transaction has not materialised,” SDX Chief Executive, Paul Welch, said, adding that “it was an exciting opportunity but we are screening potential deals all of the time and we know that there will be others that will serve to fast track our stated goal to be a North Africa-focused (exploration and production firm) of scale.”

SDX Energy was created in October 2015 through the merger of the two Canadian oil and gas companies, Sea Dragon Energy and Madison PetroGas. Its shares were suspended from trading on London Stock Exchange when it announced on 20 September that it had started talks with BP.

BP produces about 40 per cent of Egypt’s total gas production and about ten per cent of the country’s annual petroleum production, according to official data.

In August, BP’s North Africa Regional President, Hisham Mekawi, said that the company’s investments in Egypt had risen to $35 billion.

Read: Egypt signs 3 oil, gas exploration deals