London-listed, Athens-based Energean confirmed on 3 April that its purchase of Italian firm Edison’s E&P assets will not include the latter’s 11.25% stake in Algeria’s 2.9bcm/y Reggane gas fields – a key element in opening up production in the country’s far southwest (MEES, 10 April). The deal to take Edison’s E&P assets was announced in July last year, for $750mn and $100mn in possible add-ons (MEES, 5 July 2019).
But in December the Algerian authorities informed Edison that they wanted to “discuss the transaction” with a view to Algerian state firm Sonatrach preempting the sale (MEES, 31 January). Given the glacial pace at which these things move in Algeria it was clear from then on that if Edison and Energean wanted to close the deal anytime soon then Algeria would have to be excluded. (CONTINUED - 390 WORDS)
