- TotalEnergies is divesting its minority stake in National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa in line with it’s strategy to divest non-core assets.
- The firm has signed a deal to divest its 36.36 minority stake held by TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa in National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa to the Prax Group.
- The transaction is subject to regulatory approvals, consents and authorisations.
Global energy heavyweight TotalEnergies has announced plans to divest its minority stake of 36 per cent held in National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa in line with its strategy to divest non-core assets.
The firm declared on Friday that it has signed a deal to divest its 36.36% minority stake, held by TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa, in National Petroleum Refiners of South Africa (Natref) to the Prax Group.
The Prax Group is a British multinational independent refining, storage, distribution, and sales conglomerate dealing in crude oil, petroleum products, and biofuels, headquartered in London. The transaction is subject to customary approvals, consents, and authorizations.
Situated at Sasolburg (Free State, South Africa), the Natref refinery has a capacity of 108,500 barrels of oil per day, supplying the main South African inland market of the Johannesburg area and is operated by a Joint Venture between Sasol (63.64 per cent) and TotalEnergies Marketing South Africa.
“The transaction is in line with the company’s strategy to focus on its large integrated fuels & petrochemicals platforms and to divest its non-core assets,” commented Jean-Pierre Sbraire, Chief Financial Officer of TotalEnergies.
TotalEnergies has been present in South Africa for nearly seventy years, producing and marketing a wide range of energies from fuels, biofuels, natural gas and green gases, renewables, and electricity, and remains committed to its operations in the country.
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TotalEnergies firming up deal with UK’s Xlinks First Limited
Last month, the firm announced that it had invested £20 million to acquire a minority stake in Xlinks First Limited, a company founded in 2019 in the United Kingdom, joining fellow investors Octopus Energy and Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (TAQA).
Xlinks plans to develop a giant renewable project in Morocco, combining solar and wind to supply green electricity to the United Kingdom through the installation of high-voltage direct current (HVDC) subsea cables, coupled with a large battery energy storage.
“We are excited to welcome Europe’s largest energy company to be a part of our ambitious vision to foster long-distance power exchanges through this iconic partnership with the UK and Morocco. TotalEnergies’ investment goes far beyond capital, providing a rare combination of expertise in areas that meet the unique challenges we face. This marks a highly successful end to 2023 and will give us even greater impetus to achieve our goals as we enter 2024,” said Xlinks CEO Simon Morrish in a statement to newsrooms.
Upon completion, the project is expected to deliver enough renewable, reliable, and affordable electricity to power over 7 million British homes.
“We are delighted to join the Xlinks project and its other investors to support the development of such a pioneering and ambitious endeavor. This innovative project will benefit from our track record in developing large and complex integrated energy projects,” said Vincent Stoquart, SVP Renewables at TotalEnergies.
As part of its ambition to reach net zero by 2050, TotalEnergies is building a world-class, cost-competitive portfolio combining renewables (solar, onshore and offshore wind) and flexible assets (CCGT, storage) to deliver clean firm power to its customers.
In 2022, TotalEnergies generated more than 33 TWh of electricity and had a gross renewable electricity generation installed capacity of 17 GW.
The firm plans to continue expanding its business to grow its power generation to more than 100 TWh by 2030, with the objective of being among the world’s top 5 producers of electricity from wind and solar energy.
