Energy
Siemens, Mitsubishi Heavy Consider Joint Bid for Alstom Assets
FRANKFURT — Siemens AG will decide by Monday whether to bid for the energy assets of France’s Alstom SA and exit the train business, marking a strategic shift. But big course changes are routine for the 166-year-old company, which started in the telegraph business.
Over the past two decades, Siemens has shed divisions making computers, phones, cellphone networks, light bulbs, car parts and semiconductors while becoming a world leader in wind turbines. The German industrial conglomerate said Wednesday it would work with Japan’s Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd to assess a potential pitch for the Alstom operation.
Siemens’s willingness to unload what had been considered core assets is a hallmark of its desire to invest in industries where it holds a technical edge or it sees growth prospects. Managers display little emotion toward operations, sometimes selling only a few years after entering a field, and seek partnerships to share costs for operations that lack synergy with the rest of the group.
Siemens and Mitsubishi last month, for example, struck a joint venture combining their metals subsidiaries. A day earlier Siemens said it would buy most of Rolls-Royce Holdings RR.LN -5.48% PLC’s energy division and said it would consider listing shares in its own health-care unit.
The medical unit, which makes hospital equipment such as X-ray scanners and ultrasound machines, could represent an even bigger deal for Siemens than the Alstom transaction, which is preliminarily valued at up to €11 billion ($14.9 billion). Siemens’s health-care unit accounts for more than one-third of the company’s €84 billion total market value, analysts estimate.
Siemens invited Mitsubishi to join its appraisal of Alstom, which has tentatively approved a bid from General Electric Co. GE -1.00% GE’s offer values Alstom’s energy and rail divisions at $17 billion, but French government officials have objected to the U.S. company controlling what they see as strategic national assets. Mitsubishi’s participation could help Siemens allay European antitrust concerns while putting more heft behind its offer.
Siemens has completed due diligence of Alstom, Siemens Chief Executive Joe Kaeser said recently. “We will make up our minds what that means for us,” he said. “There are opportunities and risks.”
Siemens buys and sells assets frequently, and many of its moves have been shrewd.
In 1999 the company sold shares in Epcos AG, a maker of electronic components, when the electronics industry was booming. A year later Siemens floated 29% of chip-making subsidiary Infineon AG through an initial public offering and another stake soon after. Infineon shares shortly lost almost 65% of their value and haven’t recovered.
In 2005, Siemens paid Taiwan-based BenQ Corp. of Taiwan €250 million to take over the German company’s cellular-handset division. A year later, BenQ sought bankruptcy protection for the unit.
Siemens in 2007 sold its VDO car-component unit to German car-parts maker Continental AG for €11 billion, just before the European car market hit a multiyear skid.
In 2008, Siemens contributed its corporate phone-system business to a joint venture with Gores Group LLC. The combined company, now called Unify Inc., said this month it would slash half its workforce as demand drops for traditional phone systems.
Siemens that same year transferred its cordless-phone unit to Arques Industries AG of Germany at undisclosed terms. Shares of Arques, which later renamed itself Gigaset AG, have plunged to around €1 from above €6 at the time of the deal.
Not all of Siemens’s moves have been so well-timed. It started to exit the cellular-network business in 2007 by entering a joint venture with Finland’s Nokia Corp. But it took six years for the German company to extricate itself completely. That was too late, because prices already had peaked, said Christoph Niesel, a fund manager with Germany’s Union Investment, which holds a stake of around 1% in Siemens.
Siemens last year spun off light-bulb maker Osram Licht AG, and its shares peaked this March at more than twice their listing price. That gain could have gone to Siemens shareholders had the company waited to make the listing, Mr. Niesel said.
Now Mr. Kaeser faces similar concerns over timing. Siemens said it contributed its division that builds steel plants to the joint venture with Mitsubishi because of “the challenging market environment and high price pressure.”
Siemens’s rail division, which Mr. Kaeser has proposed giving to Alstom as partial payment for the French company’s energy division, and the rest of Siemens’s transportation-and-logistics operation was unprofitable in the fiscal year through September.
The health-care division, in contrast, is very profitable but lacks synergies with Siemens’s other businesses. Mr. Kaeser has indicated that he sees potential takeover targets in the sector but that they are at higher values than he is willing to pay. Listing stock in the medical division would allow him to pay for acquisitions with the shares.
“We would float health care in parts and then be able to acquire companies with similar multiples,” he told investors recently.
– WALLSTREET JOURNAL
OPEC oil output in May hit its lowest in more than two decades, a Reuters survey found, as a U.S. naval blockade cut Iran’s exports and Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz slashed exports by other Gulf producers.
Output by the 11-member Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries fell by 1.06 million barrels per day month-on-month to 16.13 million bpd, the survey found.
That was the lowest monthly figure since at least 2000, according to Reuters surveys, and well below the levels seen during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 when demand collapsed.
The figures exclude the United Arab Emirates which quit OPEC as of May 1.
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Saudi Arabia had a further decline, although Iraq was able to increase supply due to increased domestic use, sources in the survey said.
Venezuela and Nigeria also pumped more.
Eight members of the OPEC+ producer group, which includes OPEC plus allies including Russia, had agreed to raise production in May, but the Iran war and U.S. blockade made that impossible.
The Reuters survey is based on flow data from financial group LSEG, information from other companies that track flows, such as Kpler, and information provided by sources at oil companies, OPEC and consultants.
Credit – Times of India
Shell Nigeria Gas (SNG) shared its experiences in pioneering gas distribution nearly 30 years ago, and identified the expansion of pipeline natural gas infrastructure and the market‑making role of gas distributors as critical in moving gas from a policy aspiration to a practical energy solution for Nigerian industries.
“When SNG started in Agbara–Ota over 20 years ago, demand was nowhere near what it is today,” recalled Managing Director Ralph Gbobo at a panel session on “Building a Bankable Gas Distribution Ecosystem: Infrastructure, Capital and Market Demand” at the 2nd business forum of the Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG) in Abuja late last week.
Represented by Head, Gas Distribution, Chukwuka Amos-Ejesi, Raph said: “The economics was not perfect, but there was a leap of faith anchored on Nigeria’s industrialisation trajectory. That decision has proven right.”
He said SNG’s persistence proved that when demand ambition, supply certainty, enabling infrastructure, and commercial clarity come together, even if not perfectly at the start, it creates industrial clusters that can grow and attract long-term capital. “Sustainability and bankability emerge over time, as utilization deepens and confidence builds,” he pointed out.
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The theme of the forum was “From Gas Abundance to Gas Access: Reassessing Nigeria’s Gas Distribution Imperatives,” with industry leaders and other stakeholders discussing the use of gas to drive industrialisation. The panel session agreed on the need for “clear, supportive and credible policy frameworks, especially measures designed to improve the use of gas.
Ralph noted: “The introduction of gas-focused policies, notably the Petroleum Industry Act, marked a turning point. By reinforcing the role of gas in Nigeria’s energy and industrial strategy and embedding instruments such as the Network Code- a critical framework that governs the operations of the Domestic Gas market and ensures transparency and stability, and the Domestic Gas Supply Obligation which compels gas producers to allocate gas to the domestic market, the PIA significantly reduced policy ambiguity around gas development.”
He added: “The introduction of clearer pricing frameworks for gas supply and transportation and a more transparent and competitive licensing regime, has also strengthened market confidence. Together, these measures have improved producer confidence, particularly for domestic gas projects, and signaled the government’s strong commitment to gas as a driver of industrial development.”
Incorporated in 1998 as a fully Shell-owned gas distribution company, SNG currently serves over 150 clients in Abia, Bayelsa, Ogun and Rivers states, partnering with governments and other stakeholders to take the cleaner and more affordable energy to the doorsteps of industries. In the first half of this year alone, the company has connected two additional companies in Ogun State to its gas distribution network.
Photo Caption – L–R: Chairman, Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG), and Managing Director, Axxela Gas Distribution, Kehinde Alabi; and Head of Gas Distribution, Shell Nigeria Gas, Chukwuka Amos-Ejesi, receiving a commendation plaque on behalf of SNG Managing Director, Ralph Gbobo, in recognition of his professional and diligent service on the Governing Board of the Association, at the Association of Local Distributors of Gas (ALDG) Business Forum in Abuja
In what is expected to provide investors and industry stakeholders with a detailed overview of Nigeria’s energy assets and opportunities, her first comprehensive Gas and Power Infrastructure Map will be unveiled at the 25th edition of NOG Energy Week.
It was gathered that the publication, developed by the Gas for Africa programme in partnership with NNPC Limited, will be launched during the annual energy conference in Abuja and is being positioned as a major step towards improving transparency and investment decision-making in Nigeria’s gas and power sectors.
Industry stakeholders have long cited the lack of consolidated and reliable infrastructure data as a major challenge to attracting investment into the sector. The new map seeks to address that gap by providing a single source of information on Nigeria’s gas and power infrastructure, including pipelines, gas processing facilities, power generation assets, LNG terminals and key transmission networks.
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Alongside the infrastructure map, organisers will also release a comprehensive report on Nigeria’s gas sector, which they describe as the most extensive industry intelligence publication ever produced on the country’s gas value chain.
The report examines developments in the sector since 2020 and covers key areas such as the NNPC Gas Master Plan 2026, gas reserves and production trends, pipeline infrastructure, capacity challenges, compressed natural gas (CNG), piped natural gas (PNG), liquefied natural gas (LNG) markets, gas-to-power projects and gas-based industrialisation.
According to the organisers, the publication provides an end-to-end assessment of Nigeria’s gas industry and offers critical insights for investors, policymakers and industry operators.
The launch comes at a time when global energy markets are undergoing significant shifts, driven by geopolitical tensions and increasing demand for alternative and secure energy supplies.
Organisers noted that Nigeria is strengthening its position as a major energy player, supported by rising crude oil production, implementation of a new Gas Master Plan and expanding refining capacity.
They said the infrastructure map and accompanying report are expected to help convert investor interest into concrete projects by providing accurate data on existing assets, infrastructure gaps and future opportunities across the sector.
Attendees at NOG Energy Week will be the first to access both publications as government officials, energy executives, investors and industry leaders gather in Abuja for the five-day event.
The conference is also expected to feature investment discussions, joint venture announcements, memorandum of understanding signings and project partnerships aimed at advancing Nigeria’s energy development agenda.
With preparations gathering momentum ahead of the event, organisers said NOG Energy Week 2026 will provide a platform for stakeholders to examine the future of Nigeria’s energy sector and its role in Africa’s broader energy transition and industrial growth.
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