Wildcat Petroleum collaborates with South African state-owned entity

LONDON: Wildcat Petroleum announced a major step forward in its petroleum endeavors, signing a collaboration agreement with the Strategic Fuel Fund Association (SFF), an entity owned by the government of South Africa.

The agreement focuses on evaluating petroleum assets in South Sudan, previously held by PETRONAS.

The partnership aims to harness the expertise of both organizations in South Sudan’s oil sector, exploring potential scenarios for acquiring all or parts of the assets formerly managed by PETRONAS.

This move follows the expiration of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) between Wildcat and Nilepet in March 2025, which facilitated productive discussions on the acquisition of PETRONAS’ South Sudanese assets after the Malaysian company announced its withdrawal in August 2024.

Signed on March 18, 2025, the agreement with SFF is set to expire on August 5, 2025, and allows either party to terminate it with a five-day notice.

“Having secured this agreement with the South African government through its wholly owned entity SFF is excellent news for Wildcat,” said Mandhir Singh, Chairman of Wildcat. “A tie-up with SFF enhances our opportunities as they are one of the few companies to successfully sign a petroleum deal in South Sudan since its independence in 2013.”

Wildcat will leverage SFF’s well-established technical team based in Juba to support technical evaluations under the agreement, further cementing its commitment to strategic opportunities in South Sudan’s energy sector.