November 29, 2024 [Energy Voice]- A planned purchase by Prax Group of Shell’s 37.5% stake in the Schwedt refinery in Germany is being delayed by “pending lawsuits by third parties,” according to a report from Reuters.

The deal, should it complete, would be the latest in a series of acquisitions by Prax, a British energy conglomerate operating across the entire oil value chain and keen to expand its midstream business.

In June this year Prax bought the Greater Laggan area oil and gas fields West of Shetland from French firm TotalEnergies, together with the Shetland gas plant.

A year earlier, Prax acquired Hurricane Energy, operator of the Lancaster oilfield west of Shetland, in a £250 million deal.

At the time, the group told Energy Voice that it was aiming to become a 50,000 barrel-per-day business and was specifically targeting a growth surge in the UK North Sea.

The Schwedt refinery deal was originally expected to close in the first half of 2024, “subject to partner rights and regulatory approvals”, but Reuters says its sources revealed that Schwedt’s majority owner Rosneft, based in Russia, had attempted to prevent the sale to Prax.

Additional complications arose due to Rosneft having been stripped of its control of the refinery, but not its shares, as a result of energy ties between Germany and Moscow having been severed in 2022.

Reports say Shell and Prax are continuing to work together to progress finalising the deal, estimated to be worth around €155-190 million (£130-160m).

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