On 28 March, BP and Abu Dhabi state energy giant Adnoc announced that they had submitted a bid to purchase a 50% stake in Israeli listed firm NewMed Energy. The move is potentially transformative and underlines the extent to which the East Mediterranean is now one of the hottest upstream basins globally, as well as marking the first stepping stone in Adnoc’s ambitious plans to become a major international player.

“BP today confirms that, together with Adnoc, it has made a non-binding offer to take NewMed Energy private through an acquisition of the free float and a partial acquisition of [parent company] Delek’s stake, which would result in BP and Adnoc holding 50% of NewMed Energy,” the UK major says. NewMed says the free float equates to approximately 45% of the company’s equity, with the Delek portion coming in at around 5% to leave both Delek and the Adnoc/BP JV with 50%. (CONTINUED - 2483 WORDS)