Vitol, the oil trader has purchased shareholdings in Rialto Energy's West African oil and gas exploration assets in order to improve and expand its channels for energy supplies.
The company is wholly private and has reported revenues amounting to US$300 billion last year. As such, it has used the abundant funds to purchase energy assets in a bid to take control of the global energy supply chains.
Under the Rialto-Vitol agreement, the Switzerland based company would be acquiring 20% shareholdings in the Ghana operations of Rialto as well as 65% shareholdings in its Ivory Coast operations in return for upstream financing.
Currently Vitol operates several oil assets in the region, such as Nigeria and Cameroon. It also landed a contract to export oil from Gabon in early 2013. These agreements are all subject to regulatory approval.
In trading at the Australian Securities Exchange, Rialto's shares were valued at Aus$0.049 last Tuesday and have been steadily declining in the past twelve months.
Join the Conversation