Italian oil and gas company Eni SpA (E) has agreed to sell 28.57 percent of Eni East Africa's shares to China National Petroleum Corp. or CNPC for $4.21 billion. Separately, Eni reported higher annual profit, benefiting from significant earnings from discontinued operations.
Eni East Africa is owner of the 70 percent interest in Area 4, in Mozambique. With this operation, CNPC indirectly acquires a 20 percent stake in Area 4, while Eni remains the owner of 50 percent.
The remaining shares in the area are held by Empresa Nacional de Hidrocarbonetos de Mocambique, Kogas and Galp Energia, each having 10 percent.
Eni CEO Paolo Scaroni and Zhou Jiping, CEO of Petrochina Company Limited (PTR) which is controlled by CNPC, signed an agreement regarding the sale in Beijing.
According to Eni, ''CNPC's entrance into Area 4 is strategically important for the project thanks to the worldwide relevance of the new partner in the upstream and downstream sectors.''
Eni and CNPC also signed a joint study agreement for cooperation for the development of the Rongchang shale gas block, which covers about 2,000 square kilometers in the Sichuan Basin.
According to Eni, this area, closely located to the main consumption markets in China, has proven to be the most promising in the country to date. The agreement will allow for the study of the area which will be conducted simultaneously with the negotiations for the signing of the production sharing agreement.
Eni said separately that on the basis of International Financial Reporting Standards, its net profit attributable to shareholders for fiscal 2012 increased to 7.788 billion euros from 6.860 billion euros in the prior year.
Excluding the contribution and gains from the disposal of Snam, net profit from continuing operations attributable to shareholders fell to 4.198 billion euros from 6.902 billion euros.
Total revenues climbed to 128.77 billion euros from 108.62 billion euros in the prior year.
The Board of Directors intends to propose a cash dividend of 1.08 euros per share or 2.16 euros per ADR.
The Board of Directors has approved to propose to the Annual Shareholders' Meeting to grant a proxy to the Board to continue the purchase program of treasury shares. The restarting of the buyback program was announced on May 30, 2012.
The program is for 18 months beginning from the date of the Annual Shareholders' Meeting, up to a maximum of 363 million shares. This represents around 10 percent of the share capital, for a maximum consideration of 6 billion euros at a price not less than 1.102 euros per share and not more than 5 percent above the reference price registered on the trading day preceding each purchase.
The stock is gaining 2.2 percent in Milan at 18.32 euros.
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