In a publication this Tuesday afternoon, Clarín reported that the company “completed the global purchase” of the shares of Wintershall Dea . In the case of Argentina; in Vaca Muerta and on the coast of Tierra del Fuego.
“An English oil company arrives in the country and will produce gas near the Malvina Islands. The English oil company Harbour Energy has bought 37.5% of a consortium operating in Tierra del Fuego ,” the media outlet states in a note signed by journalist Santiago Spaltro.
Either the Clarín information is incomplete and incorrect; or the Tierra del Fuego government has changed its temperament .
On December 22nd of last year, when the negotiations between Wintershall Dea and Harbour Energy for the purchase and sale of shares became known internationally, Governor Gustavo Melella himself, through his account in X, expressed his rejection “in the strongest terms” of what he described as an “attempt to violate our sovereign rights.” He anticipated that they would put “in motion all administrative mechanisms within our reach in accordance with our jurisdiction.”
We have learned that UK company @Harbourenergy has acquired non-Russian oil and gas assets from German company @wintershalldea , including new provincial projects.
“We will work together with Deputies and Senators to present a project to the National Congress to modify National Law 26,659 so that companies that have carried out actions in the past that seek to plunder the resources of our province are also subject to sanctions. We will not allow any action that seeks to strengthen the illegal British presence in our territory and that directly threatens provincial and national interests”; the governor of Tierra del Fuego promised, days before the end of 2023.
In the same sense, on February 14 of this year, the Secretary of Energy of the province Alejandro Aguirre had stated that the Fuegian Executive was not going to authorize Wintershall to sell shares of the Fenix project to the English company Harbour Energy .
On that date, in exclusive statements for Agenda Malvinas , the official assured that together with Governor Gustavo Melella and the Secretary of Malvinas Andrés Dachary ; they agreed on not authorize the transfer of the shares that Wintershall Dea Argentina owns the Fenix offshore field - located on the northern coast of the Atlantic coast of the island of Tierra del Fuego -; the company British oil company Harbour Energy .
"What we have discussed with Dachary is to reject the agreement. First publicly, and then to warn that we will not allow any concessions," said the minister.
Going into detail regarding the power of the Fuegian State to control the resource, the official He explained that the request for transfer of assets must first go through the Executive and then through the legislature.
The fact is that 6 months later, the newspaper Clarín provides a new overview of British interference in the province that has invaded the Malvinas Islands and more than 1.6 million square kilometres of the South Atlantic. Furthermore, this is a company that carried out hydrocarbon exploration in waters adjacent to the Malvinas archipelago, with an illegal licence from the Kelper colonial government.
Specifically, what Clarín reports is that the English oil company Harbour Energy completed this Tuesday the purchase of the global assets of the German Wintershall Dea, which had been announced in December 2023. And that, in this way, the firm based in London, England, will enter Vaca Muerta and take the 37.5% that Wintershall Dea has in the CMA-1 consortium (Cuenca Marina Austral 1), which has offshore natural gas and crude oil production 60 kilometers off the coast of Tierra del Fuego, on the Argentine continental shelf and about 400 kilometers from the Malvina Islands, illegally occupied by Great Britain.
Who are Harbour Energy?
Harbour Energy is the result of the merger of Chrysaor and Premier Oil, two British oil and gas groups. The former, Chrysaor, was founded in 2007 and has grown strongly thanks to a series of successful acquisitions. Premier Oil had been exploring the seabed for oil and gas for over a century.
The merger of the two companies created the largest independent oil and gas company listed on the FTSE index in London (FTSE is the stock market index of the 100 best-capitalised British companies listed on the London Stock Exchange).
A global business worth 11.2 billion dollars
The transfer of Wintershall Dea from petrochemical company BASF to Harbour Energy was for a total of 11.2 billion dollars and includes production and development assets as well as exploration rights in Argentina, Germany, Norway, Mexico, Algeria, Libya, Egypt and Denmark. The transaction excludes Russia and some other assets around the world.
Wintershall Dea shareholders (72.7% of BASF and 27.3% of LetterOne, the investment fund that owned Día supermarkets) received US$2.15 billion in cash, as well as a total stake of 54.5% in Harbour Energy.
Wintershall Dea has been in the country since 1978 - 46 years ago - and has a production of approximately 63,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day (boe/d), although 92% is oriented towards natural gas.
It has conventional and shale gas fields in Aguada Pichana Este and San Roque, in Neuquén, and is a partner in Hidra, Carina, Aries, Vega Pléyade and Fénix, the mega project that will go into production at the end of September and that required investments of 700 million dollars between TotalEnergies and Pan American Energy (PAE) in Tierra del Fuego.
The impact of the war between Russia and Ukraine
Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, the war that raged on for more than two and a half years, and Western sanctions against Vladimir Putin's regime have sent shockwaves through Germany.
Wintershall Dea had more than 50% of its business in Russia and was a shareholder in the Nord Stream 1 underwater gas pipeline - allegedly blown up and sabotaged by a Ukrainian - and the Nord Stream 2 project. The war disrupted its plans and left the oil company adrift.
Meanwhile, Germany stopped buying natural gas from Russia, its cheapest supplier, and began to rely on more expensive Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) from the United States, as well as intermittent renewable energy. This opens the possibility for Argentina to be a supplier of liquefied gas to Europe, and in particular to Germany, in the future.
The purchase of Harbor Energy
In December 2023, Harbour Energy signed an agreement with BASF and LetterOne, shareholders of Wintershall Dea, to merge the two companies. Following receipt of the necessary regulatory approvals, the transaction was completed in early September 2024.
Wintershall Dea had announced its withdrawal from Russian activities in January 2023. Following completion of the transaction with Harbour Energy, Wintershall Dea's main tasks will include the processing of claims related to the expropriation of the Russian assets, the sale of the remaining assets in other parts of the world, organisational restructuring and, ultimately, the closure of the headquarters units in Kassel and Hamburg, which will affect 800 employees.
Wintershall Dea will also provide transition services to Harbour Energy for up to 12 months.
The social plan for the affected workers was negotiated with their representatives and includes compensation agreements for job loss. In addition, the company offers support through external services such as career guidance.
According to an executive presentation by the British oil company, Wintershall Dea's operating costs in Argentina - which it will cover - are on average below 10 dollars per barrel and there are reserves for 12 years.
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