Earlier today, Norway-based oil and gas company StatoilHydro ASA (STO) announced that it has signed a purchase agreement with Canadian company, World Point Terminals, for the possible acquisition of its Bahamian operations for $263.2 million. Those facilities include the South Riding Point crude oil storage terminal and World Point’s 50% interest in the Freepoint tug boat business, both located on Grand Bahama Island in the Bahamas.
The deal builds on the leasing contract StatoilHydro has had at the terminal since 1993 as per which the Norwegian company currently has access to around 40% of the terminal’s capacity. The transaction is conditional on the extension of this lease with the Bahamian government, a satisfactory due diligence procedure, besides necessary regulatory approvals in the Bahamas. The companies hope to conclude the deal by year-end.
This asset acquisition is seen as a strategic move by StatoilHydro to support its global upstream growth plans. Additionally, the inclusion of South Riding Point terminal will bolster the company’s operations in North America by making volumes more easily marketable to the U.S. customers.
South Riding Point has a capacity of 6.75 million barrels in ten storage tanks, having two berths, one for a very large crude carrier. StatoilHydro is planning to upgrade the terminal to allow blending of all kinds of crude oils, including the more cost advantaged heavy crude oil.
We currently rate ADRs of StatoilHydro a Hold on valuation grounds. Our preferred plays in the integrated space remain Exxon (XOM) and Chevron (CVX) for low-risk ideas and Marathon (MRO) for high-beta.
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