Noble Group sells oil liquids unit

This article is more than 12 months old

Oct 24, 2017 06:00 am

SINGAPORE: Struggling commodities trader Noble Group has agreed to sell its Americas-focused oil trading business to Vitol for about US$580 million (S$790 million) as part of a debt-cutting strategy and warned of a big loss for its third quarter.

Yesterday's move came after Reuters reported late on Friday that Vitol, the world's largest oil trader, was nearing a deal to buy Noble's oil liquids unit. Singapore-listed Noble is shrinking to an Asian-centric company focused on its core coal trading, liquefied natural gas and freight businesses.

It is slashing jobs and selling assets to reduce debt and win support from lenders. In July, it agreed to sell its smaller gas and power business to Mercuria.

Noble said gross proceeds from the sale of its oil liquids business would be US$1.4 billion, and after deducting debt of about US$836 million, cash proceeds would be about US$580 million.

It also warned of a total net loss of US$1.1 billion to US$1.25 billion in the three months ending September. - REUTERS