TotalEnergies and Bahrain’s Bapco Energies have signed a binding agreement to launch BxT Trading, a 50/50 joint venture focused on petroleum product trading in the Middle East. The deal, witnessed on January 15 by His Highness Shaikh Nasser bin Hamad Al Khalifa and TotalEnergies CEO Patrick Pouyanné, grants BxT Trading exclusive access to flows from Bapco Energies’ Sitra refinery, which processes 267,000 barrels per day. TotalEnergies will contribute its global trading platforms in Houston, Geneva and Singapore, along with proprietary risk-management and pricing algorithms developed over 45 years. The new venture aims to execute up to 15 million metric tons of product trades annually, enhance local downstream value chains and establish Bahrain as a regional hub for crude and refined product arbitrage.

TotalEnergies has agreed to divest its 10% participating interest in the Renaissance upstream joint-venture licenses offshore Nigeria to Vaaris for an undisclosed consideration, closing in Q2 2024. The sale covers blocks OML 130, 131 and 134, where TotalEnergies has participated since 2000, producing an aggregate 40,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day. While relinquishing operatorship, TotalEnergies will retain an economic interest in associated gas assets, including a 12% take in the Akpo gas field’s upcoming Phase 3 development, scheduled to deliver 1.2 billion standard cubic feet per day by 2026. This transaction aligns with the company’s strategy to recycle capital from mature operations into high-margin LNG, renewables and hydrogen projects.