UK energy firms fail to reach deal on Egypt assets transaction

18 October 2018
BP has been looking to sell its stake in an Egyptian asset for a while

UK-based exploration and production (E&P) firm SDX Energy has announced that its negotiations with BP for the latter’s upstream assets in Egypt have ended without a deal.

In its statement to the London Stock Exchange, the North Africa-focused SDX did not explain why a deal could not be reached for the transaction.

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

It has been reported that BP has been looking for firms to buy its stake in a 50 year-old oil and gas business in Egypt, estimated to be worth about $500m.

SDX, however, continues to operate in other North African states, including Morocco.

SDX Energy’s presence in Morocco has been validated by six successful discoveries. The first of these came in January, when it confirmed gas discoveries in four of its wells in the Gharb region.

This was followed in March by the announcement that a gas discovery had been made at the SAH-2 well in its Sebou onshore licence. In May, SDX then announced its discovery of conventional natural gas at its LMS-2 exploration well in its Lalla Mimouna licence. This was SDX’s seventh successful well and concluded SDX’s nine-well drilling programme in Morocco.

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