Regional LNG: Shell denies bid talks with Australia govt on Woodside: Report
Saturday, April 9 2005 - 03:25 AM WIB
?We don't comment on media speculation, but one thing I would say is that the recent visit of Shell executives to Canberra was to brief the government before the announcement was made on changes to the Gorgon gas project,? Tim Warren, chairman of Shell Australia and a Woodside board director, told Reuters on Friday.
Shell shares rallied 2.5 percent on Thursday on the back of an analyst's report saying the Anglo-Dutch company might consider raising its 34 percent stake in Woodside and after Shell executives held talks with the government which would need to approve such a bid.
Shell officials were in Canberra to inform the government of changes to the ownership structure of the A$11 billion ($8.25 billion) Gorgon gas joint venture off Australia's west coast. The changes announced on Wednesday give Shell a 25 percent stake in the project.
The government blocked Shell's previous takeover attempt of Woodside -- Australia's largest independent oil and gas company -- on national interest grounds.
Concern centered on the A$14 billion Woodside-operated North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) which competes with Shell's other LNG projects.
But brokerage UBS said in a report circumstances had changed since the bid was blocked in 2001.
?If Shell were to revisit its desire to gain control of Woodside we believe it would be incorrect to assume an automatic rejection from FIRB (Foreign Investment Review Board),? the report said.
?It can also now be argued the growth outlook of the North West Shelf project is not as important to Australia as it once was.?
UBS said Woodside, which has a market capitalisation of A$16.9 billion, would be considered attractive to Shell because of its reserves and production growth potential and its exposure to world class frontier exploration acreage in Mauritania and Libya. (*)