Total drops deal to buy Petronas’ Vietnam LPG operations

February 02, 2017 | 14:05

(0) user say

Totalgaz Vietnam Limited Liability Company (TGV), a subsidiary of French integrated oil and gas corporation Total, has terminated the agreement to buy Thang Long LPG Co., Ltd., the liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) storage and bottling subsidiary of Malaysian oil and gas company Petroliam Nasional Berhad (Petronas).

“In relation to the Sales and Purchase Agreement (SPA) entered into by our wholly-owned subsidiary PDB (Netherlands) B.V. to divest its entire 100 per cent equity interest in Thang Long LPG Co., Ltd. to Totalgaz Vietnam Limited Liability Company, we wish to inform that TGV has issued a notice to terminate the SPA effective from January 31, 2017,” Petronas announced in a filing with Bursa Malaysia.

According to Petronas, the termination of the SPA is not expected to have any material effect on PDB Group’s financial position.

Liquefied petroleum gases (LPG) is a group of hydrocarbon gases, primarily propane, normal butane, and isobutane, derived from crude oil refining or natural gas processing. These gases may be marketed individually or mixed. One of the main uses of LPG is as cooking fuel.

Totalgaz Vietnam and PDB signed the SPA in December 2015. The agreement covered Petronas' two liquefied petroleum filling facilities in the northern city of Haiphong and the southern province of Dong Nai, along with Petronas’s portfolio of customers and partners.

Totalgaz is the second biggest producer of LPG in Vietnam, with 12.5 million cylinders a year, 10,000 distributors all over the country, and about 1 million households as customers. Total, one of the largest integrated oil and gas companies in the world, has been present in Vietnam for over 20 years in the LPG, lubricants, and retail fuel segments. In May 2015, Total sold its Totalgaz operation in France. In 2014 and 2015 the company sold its LPG marketing and sales operations in a number of European markets.