Bloomberg reports that Chinese state-run Sinochem is in talks with commodity trader Noble:
“The Asian nation’s state-run Sinochem Group is said to be in early talks to become a strategic investor in embattled commodities trader Noble Group Ltd. A potential deal could give the Chinese oil and chemicals behemoth access to Noble’s trading expertise and businesses around the world, from gasoline blending on the U.S. Gulf Coast to petroleum storage in Panama and fuel transport via American pipelines.”
“Noble Group offers access to a trading network spanning continents. The company traded 950 million physical barrels of crude oil and refined products via ship, barge, pipeline, truck and rail in 2015, 32 percent more than the previous year. It’s one of the biggest gasoline blenders in the U.S. and supplies products to the Colonial and Magellan pipelines. It has petroleum storage facilities in Panama and Europe, and is also a major coal and LNG trader.”
The deal makes sense:
““On the one hand Noble is in need of cash, on the other it can add supply-chain value to Sinochem’s existing trading business, and they can be complementary to each other in products, regions and portfolios,” said Li Li, an analyst at industry researcher ICIS China. “There is certainly a pattern for a rich China Inc. to invest in a quickly growing trading house with a specialized focus.”
Leave a Reply