Italy's Eni has agreed to buy BP's upstream business in Algeria for an undisclosed sum, including stakes in two major natural gas projects.
Eni said the acquisition holds "great strategic value" as it will enable the company to contribute further to meeting Europe's gas demand. The deal includes BP's 45.89pc stake in the In Amenas concession and 33.15pc interest in the In Salah concession, both of which are located in the Southern Sahara and are operated by joint ventures that BP co-owns with Norway's Equinor and Algeria's state-owned Sonatrach.
In Amenas and In Salah together produced approximately 30mn m³/d of gas and around 33,000 b/d of condensate and LPG in 2021. Their addition to Eni's existing Algerian portfolio will help boost the Italian firm's production in the country to over 120,000 b/d of oil equivalent next year, the company said.
BP described the deal as "a good outcome" for both companies and for Algeria, while Eni said the acquisition is in line with its strategy to address the challenges of the current energy market. Soon after Russia's invasion of Ukraine earlier this year, Eni's chief executive Claudio Descalzi said the company would "leverage our established alliances with producing countries", including Algeria, to find replacement energy sources for Europe.
The In Amenas plant was the site of a hostage crisis in January 2013 that resulted in dozens of deaths, including those of 39 expatriate workers.
