Malaysia’s state-owned
energy company is considering acquiring Statoil ASA’s stake in a gas pipeline
into Europe from the Caspian basin, two people with knowledge of the matter
said.
Petroliam Nasional Bhd,
also known as Petronas, may buy Norway’s biggest energy company’s 20 percent
stake in the project, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the
process is confidential. No final decision has been made and Petronas may
choose not to pursue the acquisition, they said.
Statoil plans to exit the
Trans Adriatic Pipeline project, known as TAP, Rovnaq Abdullayev, the president
of State Oil Company of Azerbaijan, told Azeri TV channel ANS on July 20. The
Oslo-based company declined to comment at the time.
Statoil sold its 15.5
percent stake in the Shah Deniz gas field in Azerbaijan to Petronas for $2.25
billion in October as the company focuses on high-value projects. Statoil,
which has scrapped production-growth targets and reduced investment plans until
2016 as it seeks to raise returns for shareholders, has sold assets for more
than $22 billion since 2010, including a 10 percent stake in Shah Deniz in
2013.
From 2018 the 870-kilometer
(541-mile) TAP project will initially deliver 10 billion cubic meters of gas
annually from the Shah Deniz fields through Greece and Albania to Italy. The
pipeline, which should eventually be able to deliver 20 bcm of gas a year, will
connect to Tanap, a pipeline that will stretch 1,841 kilometers into Turkey.
TAP’s other shareholders
include BP Plc and Socar, which each hold 20 percent, as well as Fluxys Belgium
with 19 percent, Enagas SA of Spain with 16 percent and Axpo with five percent,
according to the Baar, Switzerland-based company’s website.
A spokeswoman for TAP
declined to comment via e-mail on potential changes to shareholdings in the
project. Representatives for Statoil and Petronas didn’t immediately respond to
requests for comment.
(
Bloomberg, September 2,
2015)