North African explorer-producer SDX Energy (SDX) has confirmed press speculation that it is in talks to acquire a “significant package of assets in Egypt” from BP (BP.).
As the deal is classed as a reverse takeover, shares in the Aim-traded group have been suspended until an admission document is published or talks collapse.
Bloomberg, which was first to report the transaction, suggested that the deal could be worth $1bn (£760m), and subsequent reports have stated that the target is BP’s stake in the Gulf of Suez Petroleum Company, a joint venture with Egypt’s national oil company which produces some 70,000 barrels of oil per day (bopd). At the latest count, SDX’s output stood at just 4,444 bopd.
Should it complete, this would be the second "transformative" deal for the company in two years. At the start of 2017, SDX bought the Egyptian and Moroccan businesses of Circle Oil, a fellow energy minnow that had collapsed into administration, for $30m.
