By Shariq Khan
NEW YORK, Nov 30 (Reuters) – Commodity trader Gunvor has held active talks to invest in U.S. oil- and gas-producing assets, which could smooth over ties with the Trump administration after fallout from Gunvor’s bid to buy sanctioned Russian major Lukoil’s foreign assets, two sources familiar with the matter said.
Gunvor dropped its bid to buy Lukoil’s assets after the U.S. Treasury expressed strong opposition to the move, calling the trading firm “Kremlin’s puppet.”
While Gunvor had been interested in increasing its U.S. investments even before the failed Lukoil bid, such a move could now help it to improve relations with the administration of President Donald Trump, which has made it a top priority to attract more investments in the country’s energy industry, the sources said.
Gunvor’s Americas unit, led by Gary Pedersen, has considered backing newly formed private oil and gas companies in buying assets on its behalf, and has held talks to provide financial backing for existing producers to expand their footprint, the sources said.
The sources, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential information, cautioned that a deal was not certain.
The White House did not respond to a request for comment.
Gunvor declined to comment on specifics but said in an emailed statement: “The U.S. market remains a key growth area and we look forward to significant investments to come across the energy value chain.”
Gunvor has been investing in U.S. trading and energy infrastructure since 2012 and its portfolio there has an enterprise value of more than $4 billion, the statement added.
RECENT EFFORTS FOCUS ON NATURAL GAS
Potential U.S. investments by Gunvor are likely to focus more on natural gas than on oil, one of the sources said.
The trading firm was involved in recent bidding for assets owned by Baytex Energy in the Eagle Ford shale basin of South Texas, the other source said. Gunvor provided a financial guarantee to backstop a bid by Houston, Texas-based Percussion Petroleum, the source added.
Baytex earlier this month announced the sale of the Eagle Ford assets to an undisclosed buyer for $2.31 billion. Percussion’s bid was unsuccessful, according to separate sources familiar with the matter.
Percussion did not respond to a request for comment. Baytex declined to comment.
Details of Gunvor’s interest in making more U.S. shale investments, including its involvement with Percussion’s bid, have not been previously reported.
TRADERS BUILDING ENERGY PRODUCTION PORTFOLIO
In its annual results for 2024, Gunvor said it entered upstream natural gas production in the United States in that year but gave no details. Media reports later said the company had taken a 42% minority stake in Oklahoma-based private producer Flywheel Energy.
Rival commodities traders have also plowed money into U.S. oil and gas production in recent years, using record profits to boost their control of the supply chains for products they trade.
Top global trading house Vitol pledged $1 billion to back VTX Energy Partners in 2022, after launching Vencer Energy, its first U.S. shale venture, in 2020.
Hedge fund Citadel has also been actively acquiring natural gas-producing assets this year.
Dealmaking activity in the U.S. shale industry has slowed in recent months, however, due to declining oil prices, although natural gas has been a rare bright spot.
While analysts expect oil prices to remain under pressure next year as supply growth outpaces demand, the outlook for U.S. natural gas prices is more bullish due to expectations that power-hungry data centers and new U.S. liquefied natural gas plants will boost demand.
(Reporting by Shariq Khan and David French in New York; Editing by Edmund Klamann)
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