Victor EzejaSavannah Energy Plc is, at the moment, unable to progress her publicised acquisition of ExxonMobil and PETRONAS’ assets in Chad, even though it has not disclosed this to the market.
Savannah Energy had indicated interest in the acquisition at a time other oil and gas companies were also gunning for the deal.
Sources close to the deal expressed concern that Savannah Energy was not willing to immediately disclose the hitch to the market as required by market regulations.
The Government of Chad, through the state-owned oil company, Societé des Hydrocarbures du Tchad (SHT), notified PETRONAS on January 18, 2022 of her decision to exercise her right of first refusal and to carry out the operation in place of Savannah Energy.
Consequently, SHT is in the process of acquiring control of substantial shareholding in ExxonMobil and PETRONAS. SHT is currently in discussion with PETRONAS concerning the adaptations to be made to the transfer agreement to reflect the substitution of SHT for Savannah Energy, as buyer. SHT is also in the process of taking the necessary steps to raise the financing for the operation. While this has been going on, Savannah Energy has remained silent, a clearly unethical act that is wilfully downplaying the potential impact the collapse of the deal might have on investors who have made significant decisions based on the announcement made by Savannah Energy in December, 2021.
Under article 12 of the association agreement, the members of the consortium have a right of first refusal for 30 days in the event of transfer by another member of its participation in the consortium, in order to carry out the concerned operation (which leads to the transfer of the stake concerned) in place of the initially planned buyer, under the same conditions as those agreed between the parties
Recall that, after months of negotiations and site visits, the British firm and London Stock Exchange listed company announced the execution of share purchase agreements (SPAs) worth $626m with ExxonMobil and PETRONAS to acquire their oil & gas assets in Cameroon and Chad in December, 2021.
As a result, Savannah Energy was to acquire a combined 75% controlling interest in the Doba Oil Project and 70% indirect controlling interest in the Chad-Cameroon oil export transportation system. The remaining interests are owned by the national oil companies of Chad and Cameroon.
a tweet sighted by Prime Business Africa called out the Energy company insisting that an announcement indicating that ‘SHT has preempted Petronas transaction since January’ should have been made. ”When is SAVE (Savannah Energy) updating the market on this material information???,” the tweet inquired.
Savannah Energy’s twitter handle was tagged in the tweet by a user simply identified as ‘Remedy’.
Victor Ezeja is a passionate journalist with six years of experience writing on economy, politics and energy. He holds a Masters degree in Mass Communication.
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