Eni said on March 9 it had agreed to sell its assets in Pakistan to Prime International Oil & Gas Co., furthering plans to dispose of noncore businesses and simplify its portfolio.

Prime International is a new company formed by former local employees of the oil and gas group and Hub Power Co. Ltd., the largest independent Pakistani power producer, the statement said.

The assets include eight development and production leases in the Kithar Fold Belt and the Middle Indus Basins and four exploration licenses in the Middle Insud and the Indus Offshore basins, Eni said in a statement.

Eni’s main permits were in Bhit/Badhra, in which it held a stake of 40%, and Kadanwari, with an 18.42% stake. Other shares were in the permits for Latif, Zamzama and Sawan.

The group did not give financial details of the deal, which comes when the sale of oil and gas assets is becoming harder as the energy transition picks up.

The disposal of its assets is in line with its 2021-24 business plan, which sees the sale of non-key assets to raise cash after the global downturn triggered by the coronavirus pandemic, and to move towards cleaner fuels.

Barclays acted as adviser for Eni on the deal.

Eni had also put on sale its Australian gas assets, valued at about $1 billion, but failed to attract satisfactory bids.