Yesterday, the Iraqi government said that Sinopec (China Petroleum & Chemical Corporation) might be banned from participating in the second round of oil and gas bidding. The reason was due to Sinopec's acquisition of Addax Petroleum Corporation, which has some assets located in Iraqi Kurdistan. Is it true that Sinopec is on the blacklist because of the acquisition of Addax?
On August 24th of this year, China Petrochemical Corporation announced with great fanfare that its wholly-owned subsidiary, Sinopec International Petroleum Exploration and Development Company (SIPC), had signed an acquisition agreement with Addax Petroleum Corporation headquartered in Switzerland. According to the agreement, SIPC will initiate a tender offer to acquire all outstanding common shares of Addax at a price of CAD 52.80 per share. It is understood that the total acquisition cost for Sinopec is CAD 8.27 billion, equivalent to USD 7.24 billion.