Oil & gas

Perenco SA

Last edited by crocodyl on June 11, 2009 - 1:51pm
Company Snapshot: 

Perenco (annual revenues about $3 billion) is a privately held independent oil & gas exploration and production company with its main offices in Paris and London. It has activities in Africa, Central and South America, Turkey and the North Sea. In 2007 it signed an exploration deal with the regional government of Kurdistan in Iraq.

Perenco has faced opposition to its activities in Ecuador, and in early 2008 the company purchased a small U.S. company called Barrett Resources (Peru), which has been seeking permission to explore for oil in an area of Peru that is reported to include uncontacted indigenous people.

Ownership status: 
Privately held
Chief executive officer: 
Francois Perrodo
Website: 
http://www.perenco.com
Corporate accountability
Accountability overview: 

Perenco has been involved in controveries over its environmental impact with the government of the Democratic Republic of Congo (see http://www.mediacongo.net/show.asp?doc=6317 ) and has faced protests over human rights issues in Ecuador ( see http://upsidedownworld.org/main/content/view/348/1/ ), where it has also been in a dispute with the government over the distribution of oil revenues. In early 2008 the company acquired Barrett Resources (Peru), a small U.S. company involved in a controversial oil exploration project in the Peruvian Amazon that is reported to contain uncontacted indigenous people.

History

The company, originally an oil services operation focused on marine and logistical support, was formed by Hubert Perrodo in the 1970s. Perrodo sold off the services business in 1982 for $40 million and moved into upstream operations. In the early 1990s Perenco began to focus on exploration and development (initially under the name Kelt Energy). At a time when the oil majors were divesting their African fields, Perenco acquired a string of those assets in countries such as Gabon, Republic of the Congo and Cameroon. It later moved into South America as well as the North Sea and Turkey. After Hubert Perrodo was killed in a skiing accident in late 2006, his son Francois took over the company.