GAS FIELDS – PAPUA NEW GUINEA

Key PNG gasfield upgraded: Oil Search

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Original article by Paul Garvey
The Australian – Page: 21 : 13-Apr-18

Oil Search and ExxonMobil have upgraded the contingent resource for the P’nyang gas field in Papua New Guinea to 3.51 trillion cubic feet of gas. Andrew Hodge of Macquarie Group says the upgrade makes it more likely that an expansion of the PNG LNG project will proceed. Oil Search has a 38.5 per cent stake in the P’nyang gas field, and MD Peter Botten notes that the PNG LNG project’s partners now have access to an estimated 11 trillion cubic feet of gas when the undeveloped Elk-Antelope field is taken into account.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG

New LNG export trains to lift Oil Search output

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 20 : 21-Feb-18

Oil Search has posted a 2017 net profit of $US302.1m, which is 236 per cent higher than previously. MD Peter Botten says the company’s output could potentially double in the next 5-7 years, after Oil Search reached agreement with ExxonMobil and Total to increase their LNG output in Papua New Guinea by building three additional production trains. The new trains would feed gas from the Elk/Antelope gas field and the PNG LNG project into the existing PNG LNG plant. The expansion is subject to formal approval by the projects’ partners and the PNG government.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL

Oil Search buries ego and drops InterOil bid

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 22-Jul-16

Oil Search will not seek to match ExxonMobil’s takeover bid for InterOil. MD Peter Botten says it would not be in shareholders’ interest to increase the offer, and he adds that they will still gain most of the benefits of the deal with none of the associated risks. Oil Search has stakes in both of the two major LNG projects in Papua New Guinea, and Botten says greater co-operation between the two ventures will generate value for investors. Meanwhile, Oil Search has reported that its sales fell by seven per cent in the June 2016 quarter, to $US267.7m.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED

Exxon tops Oil Search with bid for InterOil

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 11 : 19-Jul-16

Australian-listed Oil Search is not expected to exercise its right to match ExxonMobil’s $US2.48bn ($A3.26bn) takeover bid for InterOil. It has three days to match the bid. having made its own $US2.2bn ($A2.9bn) offer for InterOil in May. Some analysts suggest that the ExxonMobil deal would benefit all parties with exposure to the Papua New Guinea LNG sector, including Oil Search. Shareholders of InterOil were slated to vote on the Oil Search offer in late July.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Oil Search could be crushed in InterOil battle

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 15-Jul-16

Proxy adviser ISS has endorsed Oil Search’s $US2.2bn takeover bid for InterOil, with the target’s shareholders scheduled to vote on the deal on 26 July 2016. However, ExxonMobil is believed to be poised to outbid Oil Search with an offer that is about 10 per cent higher. ExxonMobil – which is Oil Search’s partner in the Papua New Guinea LNG project – has not been officially confirmed as the rival suitor for InterOil.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, INSTITUTIONAL SHAREHOLDER SERVICES INCORPORATED

Oil Search sweetener needed for InterOil

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith, Sarah Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 11 : 12-Jul-16

ExxonMobil is believed to be the unnamed company that is seeking to trump Oil Search’s $US2.2bn ($A2.9bn) takeover bid for InterOil. The target has commenced negotiations with the as-yet identified suitor, which made an initial approach in late June 2016, and is understood to have made a scrip-based offer that is 10 per cent higher than the Oil Search bid. All three players have exposure to Papua New Guinea’s LNG sector.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, TOTAL SA

InterOil AGM voting stirs deal worries

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 16-Jun-16

InterOil’s former CEO Phil Mulacek has failed in his bid for a board spill, although he received a high level of support at the takeover target’s 2016 AGM. Some 31 per cent of votes cast backed his stance, and Oil Search’s $US2.2bn takeover bid will fail if 33 per cent of InterOil shareholders vote against it on 28 July. Oil Search CEO Peter Botten intends to hold further meetings with InterOil’s shareholders in the lead-up to the vote.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, CAPITAL GROUP COMPANIES INCORPORATED, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION

Dissident push falters at InterOil

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Original article by Brian Robins
The Sydney Morning Herald – Page: 20 : 13-Jun-16

Takeover target InterOil has advised that its annual meeting will proceed on 14 June 2016, after a court dismissed an application by ex-CEO Phil Mulacek to have it delayed. Shareholders will vote on Mulacek’s push for a board spill. He opposes a $US2.2 billion ($A3bn) bid for the company by Australian-listed Oil Search, arguing that the offer undervalues InterOil. The majority of institutional investors are believed to support the bid.

CORPORATES
INTEROIL CORPORATION, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, SUPREME COURT OF YUKON

Oil Search bid set for success

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 22 : 24-May-16

Papua New Guinea Prime Minister Peter O’Neill says people in his nation will directly benefit from the takeover bid for InterOil by Australian-listed Oil Search. The $US2.2bn bid comprises 8.05 of Oil Search’s shares for each InterOil share, which values the bid at $US40.25 per share. InterOil shares have risen by 38 per cent to $US43.63 in response to the bid. Oil Search intends to on-sell part of InterOil’s stake in the Papua LNG project to Total if the bid succeeds.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, INTEROIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, PAPUA NEW GUINEA. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, RAYMOND JAMES AND ASSOCIATES

Santos seeks bigger chunk of LNG pie

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 & 20 : 18-May-15

Australian-listed Santos may acquire a stake in Papua New Guinea’s P’nyang gas field, which would be used to expand the PNG LNG venture in which the group is already a partner. A final investment decision on the proposed expansion will be made in 2017. Meanwhile, Santos and its partners in a Malaysian oil project have had encouraging results from a drilling program. Santo’s Caldita-Barossa venture is also in the running to supply gas to the Darwin LNG plant if a proposed expansion of the facility proceeds.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, JX NIPPON OIL AND ENERGY CORPORATION, CONOCOPHILLIPS, SK GROUP, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CHEVRON CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, HESS CORPORATION, AWE LIMITED – ASX AWE