Chevron-Anadarko deal

US oil company Anadarko is to be sold to Chevron for US$33 billion. (The total value of the deal could reach US$50 billion). The Mozambican state expects to collect a capital gains windfall from the transaction. A week after the announcement of the sale of Anadarko, previously the leader of the liquefied natural gas (LNG) consortium undertaking the Rovuma Basin Area 1 project, the National Petroleum Institute (INP) is awaiting the deal’s paperwork. In an exclusive with the newspaper O País, Carlos Zacarias, the chairman of INP, the sector’s regulatory body, said that the state had much to gain from the US company Chevron’s purchase of Anadarko.

 

“Right now we are waiting for the documentation on Anadarko’s purchase. We believe that this may happen within the next few weeks. After that we will calculate the capital gains for Mozambique,” he explained, adding that the deal would be advantageous for Mozambican and ExxonMobil Area 4 Rovuma players. “We believe the business will accelerate gas and oil projects in both areas (Area 1 and 4), because of Chevron’s enormous technical and financial strength, which will bring another dynamic and quality,” Zacarias said.

As for the Area 1 project timeline and the final investment decision foreseen this half-year, Carlos Zacarias, assured that “nothing has been compromised”, although he admits that “each company has its own particular momentum”.

“We, as a government, wish to comply with the schedules agreed with Anadarko. We have told Chevron this,” he said.

How was the deal done?

Chevron is the second-largest oil company in the world, surpassed only by US company ExxonMobil. Anadarko’s sale, mainly of its Area 1 assets, will, on the back of the huge natural gas reserves located in the Rovuma basin, put Chevron at the top of the world’s LNG producers.The Chevron group acquired Anadarko for US$65 a share, comprising 0.369 Chevron shares and US16.25 in cash for each share held.The official statement said Chevron had issued US$200 million in new shares and paid an estimated US$8 billion in cash, taking on debt estimated at US$15 billion and bringing the value of the deal to about US$50 billion.The Chevron group says it intends to sell US$15bn to US$20bn of assets between 2020 and 2022, using the proceeds to reduce liabilities and deliver additional dividends to shareholders.