African energy trader Taleveras settled its disputes with two large European banks, ING and BCGE in 2020 after it paid millions of dollars to settle and cover its pending positions with the banks, according to U.K court records and numerous industry sources.
In 2019, Bloomberg reported about loan disputes between the banks and the energy trading company. The disputes are reported to have commenced after the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC) cancelled Taleveras’ Nigerian crude-for-products contracts in 2014 which led to major exposures in the energy trader’s books.
Taleveras, which has consistently been on the radar of many industry watchers and analysts since its incorporation in the late ‘90s, has had to navigate innumerable challenges in the ever-volatile oil and gas industry. However, the company still holds sway as one of the most successful energy trading houses to be founded by an African. Today, Taleveras is increasingly gaining a respected position as a resilient company that keeps thriving in the oil markets.
Taleveras is one of Africa’s leading integrated energy conglomerates and in 2020 became the first African independent gas trading company to secure a term deal with a Mont Belvieu-based LPG facility for the export of liquefied petroleum gas. The company operates and invests in the upstream, midstream, downstream and power sector of the energy industry and has offices across Africa, Geneva, London and the United Arab Emirates.
A top oil industry analyst, who preferred not to be named, once stated that: “The oil and gas industry, especially when you are contracting with sovereign states, could be tricky as it’s difficult to avoid the politics and the associated negative perception. Taleveras has had its fair share of its public perception problems, but the major talk in the industry is about how they are navigating through everything positively, and diversifying their business in the global markets. If they can sustain this growth and overcome it all, it will surely be one for the books.”