Gabon Intercepts Carlyle’s Oil Business
Gabon’s national oil company has agreed to acquire Assala Energy from Carlyle, following the exercise of its preemptive right to preempt the sale of the business for $1.3 billion to Maurel & Prom, a French energy company, as reported on Friday. Initially, in August, Maurel & Prom had agreed to acquire Assala Energy for $730 million, with the deal also involving a $600 million credit facility.
However, after a military coup in Gabon in late August, the Gabonese national oil firm asserted its preemptive right on the acquisition in November. The new purchase agreement with Gabon Oil Company now supersedes the prior deal with Maurel & Prom, with Carlyle noting that the terms of the new deal are “materially the same.”
According to the office of Gabon’s presidency, this acquisition will allow the country to secure and manage its natural resources while enhancing its financial position. Gabon produces around 200,000 barrels of crude oil per day (bpd), making it the second-smallest OPEC producer.
Assala Energy, under Carlyle’s ownership, increased its production in Gabon by 30% since the 2017 acquisition to 45,000 bpd. Additionally, the company augmented the size of its oil and gas reserves by 160% through exploration, as reported last August. Maurel & Prom shares experienced a 0.9% decline at 1033 GMT. Carlyle’s non-U.S. energy arm, CIEP, invested in Assala 2017 when it acquired Shell’s aging operations in Gabon for $62 million.
