Petroleum Africa
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Thursday, August 31, 2023
Following the August 30 military coup in Gabon ousting President Ali Bongo who just won his third term in office, the share prices of oil and gas companies operating in the country took a hit despite stable production.
OPEC member Gabon has a host of stock exchange listed international oil companies operating in the country including BW Energy, Maurel et Prom, Panoro Energy, TotalEnergies, Tullow Oil, and Vaalco Energy, along with other non-listed firms such as Assala Energy and Perenco.
Tullow Oil saw an opening share price on the LSE of £37.38 on August 29 which dropped to a low of £32 on the morning of August 30. Tullow just announced on August 9 that it had received approval from the government of Gabon for the extension of several of its Gabon licenses to 2046.
NYSE-listed Vaalco Energy has 100% of its production offshore and states that operations continue as usual. Its stock price fell from a high of $4.65 on August 29 down to a low of $3.845 on August 30.
Meanwhile Maurel et Prom holds three different assets in the country and is in the process of acquiring additional assets from Carlyle Group subsidiary Assala Energy. Both companies state that their production has not been adversely affected by the coup and operations continue as usual. Maurel et Prom saw its stock take a dip from €4.90 on August 28 to a low of about €4.20 on August 30.
BW Energy holds stakes in the offshore Dussafu Marin license where it had an active drilling campaign this year to increase its production. The company’s shares dropped from a high of NOK 28.15 on August 29 down to a low of NOK 24.90 on August 31 on the Oslo Stock Exchange. Panoro Energy also holds a minority stake in the Dussafu and saw its stock dip as well.
French energy major TotalEnergies saw its TotalEnergies EP Gabon stock slump by about 10% down to €166.00 on the news of the coup.
Share prices for most of these companies began to climb again on the afternoon of August 31 and as most operations are offshore, prices should remain stabilized as long as the interim powers do not make any drastic changes.
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