BP and Eni extend standalone JV model to Angola

Joint company will improve efficiency and result in cost savings, the firms say

BP and Italy’s Eni have signed an agreement to combine their upstream Angolan assets into a joint venture (JV) called Azule Energy. The move represents further steps along the road of IOCs creating standalone independents—in which they retain only a financial interest—in non-core areas, rather than trying to immediately divest the stakes. Both have previously employed the model in Norway—with Aker BP and Var Energi, respectively—while BP is also implementing it in Iraq. The companies and their peers may well roll it out in further geographies as an at least temporary solution to lengthy sales processes of non-advantaged production.      The new firm will be split evenly between the two IOCs