Gabon news

It’s done ! it’s done! the oil company Assala Gabon, a subsidiary of the Assala energy group, has just been officially purchased by the Gabonese State which announced on December 31 its pre-emptive rights in the sale of the company for which the French company Maurel & Prom had launched a serious option purchase worth $730 million.

This Thursday, the President of the Gabonese Transition, Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema chaired Thursday at the presidential palace, the signing ceremony of the agreement for the purchase of the Assala Company by the Gabonese State, announces a press release from the Presidency of the Republic .

Under this agreement, Gabon now holds 75% of the company’s shares. The State’s shares will be managed by the public company Gabon Oil Company (GOC).

« The purchase of the company Assala Gabon by the Gabonese State via GOC for 75% has a dual objective which is to secure national resources on the one hand, and to have autonomous management of oil resources on the other hand. », Explained the Gabonese presidency.

Libreville maintains that the purchase of this major oil producer in the country will allow Gabon to increase its GDP, increase its revenues and mark its sovereignty in the oil sector which represents the lungs of the national economy.

For General Brice Clotaire Oligui Nguema, who is firmly committed to a process of restoration of values, it is a question of concretizing and translating into action the manifestations of the sovereignty of our State.

“Through this operation, Gabon has only exercised its sovereign right over its natural resources like other countries. This historic act taken today is a starting act reflecting the intention to reconquer our sovereignty and ensure that in the eyes of friendly Nations, immortal Gabon remains worthy of envy. ”, declared President Oligui Nguéma following the signing of the agreement.

A subsidiary of the Assala Energy Group, Assala Gabon is an oil exploration and production company. As the second largest producer in Gabon, Assala Gabon also operates infrastructure to support its production, including a network of onshore pipelines and an oil terminal to export Gabonese crude to the international market.

Assala Gabon has eight oil fields through five permits (Rabi-Kounga, Ozigo, Awoun, Gamba/Ivinga and M’Mbende M’Bassou), and interests through four permits in five non-operated fields (Atora, Avocette, Coucal and Tsiengui).

Created in 2017, Assala Gabon was born from the ashes of Shell Gabon which had decided to leave Gabon. The assets of the Anglo-Dutch giant had been bought by the American fund Carlyle. When the Americans decided to sell the Assala Gabon company, the oil company Maurel & Prom made an offer of $730 million to buy the company. Gabon has, however, decided to assert its right of pre-emption and becomes the new buyer of the company.

Marie Dorothée