ENERGY INDUSTRIES – AUSTRALIA

Oil Search to reject $11.6b deal after Woodside talks canned

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 14-Sep-15

Woodside Petroleum’s takeover offer for Oil Search represents a 14 per cent premium to the target’s current share price, but Oil Search is likely to seek a premium of 25-30 per cent. The top executives of both groups had arranged a meeting to discuss the bid on 13 September, but Oil Search subsequently postponed it. The company is expected to formally reject the four-for-one share offer, which has an implied value of $A7.65 per share.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, BANK OF AMERICA AUSTRALIA LIMITED, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GRESHAM PARTNERS LIMITED, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED

Woodside’s Oil Search bid criticised

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 11-Sep-15

Perennial Investment Partners’ Lee Mickelburough and Simon Mawhinney of Allan Gray Australia are among the fund managers who have doubts about Woodside Petroleum’s $A11.6bn takeover bid for Oil Search. Mickelburough says there would be more merit in Woodside seeking to acquire "distressed" assets whose value has been impacted by the downturn in the crude oil price. Oil Search is likely to seek an improved offer from Woodside.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, PERENNIAL INVESTMENT PARTNERS LIMITED, ALLAN GRAY AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, WOOD MACKENZIE, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

Woodside terms rejected by Oil Search

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 23 : 10-Sep-15

Shares in Woodside Petroleum rose by 0.81 per cent to $A29.90 on 9 September 2015. Takeover target Oil Search was down 0.63 per cent at $A7.85, which is the implied bid price based on the offer of one Woodside share for every four Oil Search shares. Oil Search directors are likely to meet shortly to discuss the bid, but they are unlikely to grant Woodside’s request for exclusivity in merger talks. Neil Beveridge of Bernstein says ExxonMobil could also be a potential bidder for Oil Search.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, BERNSTEIN AND ASSOCIATES, PAPUA NEW GUINEA. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Woodside’s cheap trick

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Original article by Perry Williams, Sarah Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 9-Sep-15

Shares in Oil Search closed 17.4 per cent higher at $A7.90 on 8 September 2015, in response to an $A11.6bn takeover bid from Woodside Petroleum. The offer comprises one Woodside share for every four shares in Oil Search, which values the bid at $A7.65 per share based on current share prices. However, Credit Suisse believes that Woodside would need to lift its offer to around $A10 per share to gain Oil Search’s support for the bid. Woodside shares were $A0.92 lower at $A29.66.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PRIME MINISTER AND CABINET, PAPUA NEW GUINEA. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BG GROUP PLC, MERRILL LYNCH (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, GRESHAM PARTNERS LIMITED, HERBERT SMITH FREEHILLS PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, ALLENS

Strike threat poses new risk to $73b Gorgon gas project

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 20-Jul-15

The Fair Work Commission has given the green light for unions to hold a ballot of Gorgon LNG workers, prompting concerns that strike action will lead to further delays in completing the $US54bn ($A73bn) project. The protected ballot of CB&I employees follows the failure of negotiations over a new enterprise agreement. Chevron anticipates that exports from the Gorgon venture will commence by the end of 2015.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CB&I INCORPORATED, CHEVRON CORPORATION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

LNG price pain to be laid bare

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 14-Jul-15

Nik Burns of UBS expects Woodside Petroleum’s revenue for the June 2015 quarter to be 36 per cent lower than the March quarter. Meanwhile, revenue at Oil Search is tipped to be 35 per cent lower, as the downturn in the crude oil price begins to impact on LNG producers. Meanwhile, Adrian Prendergast of Morgans Financial expects Woodside’s dividend yield to fall from seven per cent to 3.2 per cent.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, APACHE CORPORATION, GLADSTONE LNG PTY LTD, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, PLATTS

Weak gas prices trigger AGL shift

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Jul-15

AGL Energy will not proceed with the Hunter coal-seam gas project in New South Wales or the expansion of its Camden project. However, AGL will press ahead with its Gloucester coal-seam project, despite a $A275m impairment charge that has reduced the value of the project to $A131m. AGL has revealed total writedowns in excess of $A600m after a review of its gas assets. AGL plans to sell some oil and gas assets, and it will no longer aim to derive 50 per cent of the gas supplied to customers from its own resources.

CORPORATES
AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, ESSO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Woodside’s FLNG venture design begins

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 2-Jul-15

Australian-listed Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the Browse floating LNG project will commence front-end engineering and design work. Woodside still hopes a final decision on the project will be made in the second half of 2016, although Citigroup recently forecast that a decision will be delayed until mid-2017. Woodside will hold a 30.6 per cent stake in the Browse project, which has not secured any customers.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BP PLC, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, PETROCHINA COMPANY LIMITED, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Wesfarmers makes $US100m oil, gas play

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Original article by Julie-anne Sprague, Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 25-Jun-15

Wesfarmers will pay $US100m ($A129m) for a 27.4 per cent stake in a special-purpose vehicle that holds the Quadrant Energy stakes of Angela Bennett and Macquarie Capital. This in turn will give Wesfarmers a 13.7 per cent stake in Quadrant, which was previously known as Apache Australia and owns oil and gas assets in Western Australia. Wesfarmers MD Richard Goyder describes the Quadrant stake as a stand-alone investment for the conglomerate.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, QUADRANT ENERGY PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, APACHE CORPORATION, AMB HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CSBP LIMITED, BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT INCORPORATED, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, NEXUS ENERGY LIMITED, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, DRILLSEARCH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX DLS

Woodside mulls $US8.5b Texas LNG export project

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 5-Jun-15

Woodside Petroleum and US-based Sempra Energy are expected to make a final investment decision on a proposed LNG export terminal in 2017. Development of the Port Arthur project in Texas could cost about $US8.5bn ($A10.9bn), according to Citigroup. The export terminal would have annual production capacity of 10 million tonnes. Woodside is keen to build its presence in the LNG trading sector.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, SEMPRA ENERGY, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, CHENIERE ENERGY INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD