BP PLC has completed the partial sale of its subsidiaries’ collective 21.19% ownership interest in New Zealand Refining Co. Ltd.'s (Refining NZ) 107,000-b/d refinery at Northland, in Marsden Point, New Zealand, near Whangarei.
BP New Zealand Holdings Ltd. and wholly owned subsidiary Europa Oil NZ entered a deal to shed slightly more than 11% (roughly 34.7 million shares) of their combined ownership in Refining NZ in a sell down process completed on Mar. 17 and scheduled to close on Mar. 21, according to a series of notices between Mar. 16-17 from Refining NZ and NZX Ltd., New Zealand’s stock exchange.
Once finalized, the sale will reduce BP’s total interest in New Zealand’s only refinery to about 10.1%, Refining NZ said.
The New Zealand operator said BP’s reduced shareholding in the refinery will not affect contractual arrangements with Refining NZ, including an existing processing agreement.
Regulatory filings did not reveal BP’s counterparty in the transaction, and neither BP nor Refining NZ has identified the refinery’s new stakeholder.
BP’s divestment of what was the largest individual interest in the refinery follows Chevron New Zealand's 2015 sale of its 11.37% shareholding in Refining NZ (OGJ Online, May 29, 2015).
Other remaining shareholders in the refinery include ExxonMobil Corp. subsidiary Mobil Oil NZ Ltd. 17.2% and Z Energy Ltd. 15.36%.
Contact Robert Brelsford at [email protected].
