EC Clears Total's Engie LNG Takeover

The European Commission (EC) said April 12 it has cleared Total's acquisition of part of Engie's LNG business. Total announced five months ago its agreement to acquire Engie's upstream LNG assets for $1.49bn, at which point it said the transaction would be completed by mid-2018. 

There was no immediate statement this week from either company about what further approvals might be required, prior to completion. 

Assets to be transferred include LNG supply, sale and regasification contracts, ownership and drawing rights to liquefaction plants and LNG tankers, as well as the legal entities and personnel associated with these activities, said the EC. The proposed acquisition, it judged, "would not give rise to competition concerns in light of the limited overlap between Total's and Engie LNG's activities in the wholesale supply, transportation and regasification of LNG, or in gas liquefaction." Vertical relationships between Total and Engie LNG are not likely to weaken competition in European wholesale LNG markets, it added.

The deal will provide access to regasification capacities of 14mn mt/yr in Europe, on top of the existing 4mn mt/yr of Total capacity. Engie will also contribute a fleet of ten LNG tankers, which will join Total's existing three. Upon completion, Total said in November that the deal will provide it with an enlarged global LNG portfolio of nearly 40mn mt/yr.