Chevron’s SA refinery sale draws bidders

TOTAL, Glencore and Gunvor are bidding for a 75 percent stake in Chevron’s South African downstream assets, which include a refinery, three industry sources said yesterday. US oil major Chevron said in January it planned to sell 75 percent of its South African business unit, which includes a 110 000-barrels-a-day refinery in Cape Town. The second bidding round in which actual offers were made closed on September 30, the sources said, with a selling price estimated at $1 billion (R13.8bn) expected for the assets in South Africa as well as neighbouring Botswana. “Total, Glencore and Gunvor have bid for the assets,” said one industry source close to the matter. A second source with knowledge of the transaction said: “These companies comprise the front-runners for the bid. We might possibly get a (preferred bidder) decision by the first quarter of next year.” French oil major Total, crude oil trader Gunvor and Glencore, a mining and trading company, declined to comment. Chevron spokesman Braden Reddall said the bidding process was continuing and “as a matter of policy, we do not disclose details of commercial activities”. – Reuters