The Hayaat Group, a private investment company headquartered in Abu Dhabi has announced the acquisition, for $2.94 million, of a 10% shareholding in Swala Energy Limited, a publicly traded Oil & Gas exploration business quoted on the Australian Stock Exchange.
The acquisition is Hayaat Group’s first direct investment in oil exploration, but is based on its deep knowledge and understanding of the East Africa, where the company has positioned itself to take advantage of continued economic growth. Hayaat Group has interests in a range of sectors including E&P, power, natural resources support services and trading. The Group also has significant experience in downstream projects in the Middle East and Africa. East Africa, in particular, has moved from being regarded as a frontier exploration province to a major potential source of hydrocarbons, with many of the world’s leading oil companies investing heavily and discovering oil and gas in considerable quantities.
“We are very excited about our investment in Swala Energy. It is a well-run and well financed business with an extremely attractive portfolio of exploration assets. The licenses are located in some of the most prospective land we have ever encountered and we are greatly encouraged by the high rate of exploration success already seen in the region. This is considerably higher than the average across the industry as a whole, lending weight to our belief in East Africa as a place in which to invest. This is demonstrated by our existing portfolio and our investment strategy, which will see us take positions in a variety of assets and industries, based on the significant economic growth that is expected in the coming years,” said Mohammed Ikhlaq, founding member and executive director of Hayaat Group.
Swala Energy is an Australian oil and gas company with assets in Kenya and Tanzania. Swala’s holdings are in the world-class East African Rift System with a total net land package in excess of 15,000 square kilometres. New discoveries have been announced in a number of licences along this trend, including Ngamia, Twiga and Etuko, which extend the multi-billion barrel Albert Graben play successfully developed by Tullow Oil plc into the eastern arm of the rift. Swala has an active operational and business development programme to continue to grow its presence in the hydrocarbon provinces of sub-Saharan Africa. The Company is listed on the Australian Securities Exchange (“ASX”) under the symbol “SWE” and is currently capitalised at $41 million.
To date, over two billion barrels of oil have been discovered in the Albertine Graben of Uganda. More recently, there have been oil discoveries in the Ngamia -1 and Twiga-1 wells in Kenya. These discoveries have provided compelling evidence that the presence of oil in the rift systems is geographically more extensive than previously thought. Analysts estimate that based on geological data obtained on Swala’s licences, the oil that could potentially be discovered could make the company worth more than $133 million on an unrisked basis.
