EIG, Noble Group form new energy company

Energy and infrastructure fund manager EIG Global Energy Partners is teaming up with Noble Group, a supply chain manager of agricultural and energy products, metals and minerals, to launch a new company that will own and operate energy upstream and midstream assets globally, the two companies said in a joint statement.

The new company will be funded solely through the balance sheet capital of each partner, with Noble Group committing $150 million and EIG committing $50 million. “Importantly, this does not represent a fund investment from EIG but is rather an investment from the EIG management company,” an EIG spokesperson told Infrastructure Investor.

Harbour Energy will be jointly run out of Washington DC, where EIG is headquartered, and Hong Kong, the spokesperson said.

The new company will seek to own high-quality assets that match low-cost sources of supply with growing centres of demand growth, largely in Asia, the same person said.

“Noble will be preferred offtake and marketing partner of Harbour Energy, while EIG, together with the company’s internal management team, will serve as manager of the company and oversee the acquisition of assets,” according to the statement.

Former Royal Dutch Shell executive Linda Cook has been appointed chief executive of Harbour Energy as well as managing director of EIG and a member of EIG’s executive committee.

A petroleum engineer by training, Cook has spent 29 years with Royal Dutch Shell in a variety of engineering, operations, and management roles including serving as chief executive of Shell Canada. Most recently, she was based in The Hague where she served as director and member of Royal Dutch Shell’s executive committee with responsibility for gas and power, renewables, downstream technology, and global trading activities.

“By partnering with Noble we believe Harbour Energy will be uniquely positioned to benefit from the established global platforms of each of our firms and capture value both through the ownership and operational improvement of assets and the flow of business those assets generate,” EIG chief executive R. Blair Thomas said in the statement.

Listed in Singapore and based in Hong Kong, Noble Group manages a portfolio of global supply chains covering a range of agricultural and energy products, as well as metals, minerals, and ores. A Fortune 500 company, Noble facilitates the marketing, processing, financing and transportation of essential raw materials.

Headquartered in Washington DC, EIG is a private equity firm focusing on energy and energy-related infrastructure. Since 1993, EIG has invested over $16.4 billion in more than 290 projects or companies. As of March 31, it had $15.4 billion in assets under management. The firm also has offices in Houston, London, Sydney, Rio de Janeiro, Hong Kong and Seoul.