The state of Abu Dhabi is set to become one of the largest shareholders in BP after a deal that gives the FTSE 100 group a portion of the emirate’s oil production until 2054.
Over the weekend BP issued a 2 per cent stake, comprising new shares, to Abu Dhabi, worth about £1.9 billion, in return for a 10 per cent stake in the Adco concession. BP had been a shareholder in Adco’s onshore concession since 1939, but the agreement expired in 2014, just as oil prices began to slide.
Since then Abu Dhabi has been recruiting international oil companies to share a 40 per cent stake in a series of giant onshore fields that are expected to produce 1.7 million barrels of oil a day over 2016.
The deal will catapult Abu Dhabi into the top ten BP shareholders, in front of Kuwait, a BP shareholder for nearly 30 years.
The other international companies are Total, of France, which has a 10 per cent stake, Inpex, of Japan, with 5 per cent, and GS Energy, of South Korea, with 3 per cent. The emirate is still looking for takers for the rest of the 40 per cent stake.
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BP also holds a 15 per cent stake in Abu Dhabi’s offshore concession and a 10 per cent stake in two downstream businesses: the Abu Dhabi Gas Liquefaction Company and the National Gas Shipping Company.
Last month BP bought a 10 per cent stake in Eni’s Zohr gasfield off Egypt for $375 million and gave the green light to a $9 billion development in the Gulf of Mexico.