More assets are expected to hit the market across Asia Pacific this year following the sustained drop in global oil prices and the COVID-19 pandemic, which has destroyed energy demand growth as economic activity contracts.
Despite a recently announced planned capital raising, Australian-listed Oil Search, which has major stakes in Papua New Guinea’s emerging LNG sector, is a prime takeover target, as mergers become more likely in a low oil price world.
Oil Search’s LNG project in Papua New Guinea continued strongly in the third quarter but progress on a new three-train liquefaction plan is moving more slowly than had been expected.
Oil Search today posted record output.
ExxonMobil and Oil Search has taken stakes in a pair of deepwater licenses offshore Papua New Guinea.
Exxon Mobil Corp. is the leader in the clubhouse to buy Papua New Guinea-focused gas explorer InterOil Corp. after Oil Search Ltd. declined to submit a counteroffer.
Exxon Mobil Corp. made an indicative takeover proposal for InterOil Corp. that topped a competing $2.2 billion bid for the owner of trillions of cubic feet of natural gas discoveries in Papua New Guinea, a person with knowledge of the matter said.
Total and Australia's Oil Search have agreed exclusive Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) to acquire InterOil in a $2.2billion deal .
Oil Search credited low oil price for knocking 10% off its earnings.
Woodside Petroleum has ditched its $8billion takeover offer for Oil Search.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Peter Coleman sees more time, not money, as the key to securing a takeover of Oil Search Ltd. “You don’t always have to sweeten deals,” Coleman said in an interview with Bloomberg TV’s Angie Lau on Monday. “What happens is that over time, expectations come together. You’re starting to see some M&A activity in Australia post the approach we made to Oil Search and you can see that peoples’ view of the world is starting to get a little closer.”
Oil Search Ltd., the target of a takeover bid from Woodside Petroleum Ltd., posted a 30 percent decline in third-quarter sales after a drop in energy prices. Revenue fell to $379 million from $538.2 million a year earlier, according to a statement from Oil Search on Tuesday. Sales dropped 3 percent from the June quarter. Output rose to a record 7.42 million barrels of oil equivalent, the company said.
Australian oil and gas producer Santos has revealed it will reduce its headcount by around 200, or 6% of its staff, as it looks for A$100million ($73million) in additional savings to ride out weak oil prices.
Oil Search has completed a drilling update on two of its wells in Papua New Guinea and the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRG). The company said the Taza 3 ST1 oil appraisal well in KRG has been plugged and abandoned with the rig being demobilised. The forward plan is to evaluate the results of the drilling, together with the recently proposed seismic, prior to making further drilling decisions.
Oil Search has signed a statement of intent on the next phases of the Ramu Power Project in Papua New Guinea. The company said the agreement has been made with government-owned PNG Power Limited (PPL) on the project which is aimed at connecting up to one million people to a larger electricity grid by 2030.
A meeting to discuss Woodside Petroleum Ltd.’s $8 billion takeover bid for Oil Search Ltd. was called off amid speculation that the offer for the Papua New Guinea- focused explorer is too low to succeed. The meeting scheduled for Sunday was postponed at Oil Search’s request, according to a statement from Woodside, the Australian oil producer. Oil Search is expected to reject Woodside’s bid as early as Monday, the Australian Financial Review reported Sunday, without citing sources.
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. offered A$11.65 billion ($8.1 billion) in stock for Oil Search Ltd. as it aims to take advantage of a collapse in oil prices in what would be the biggest energy deal between non-related companies in the Asia-Pacific region. Woodside offered one share for every four Oil Search shares, which amounts to a premium of about 14 percent based on Oil Search’s closing price on Monday. Oil Search rose 16 percent to A$7.835 and Woodside slid 2.9 percent to A$29.68 as of 1:12 p.m. Sydney time. Oil Search was one of the few oil and gas companies to report a jump in profit in the first half, driven by its Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project. “The market is sending a pretty clear signal that Woodside’s offer is undervaluing the Oil Search stake in the PNG LNG project, which is really one of the most competitive LNG investments in the whole Asia Pacific region,” Angus Nicholson, a market analyst at IG Markets Ltd. in Melbourne, said by phone. “Not to mention Woodside will need PNG government support, so that could be tricky.”
Total has completed the transfer of operations of the Papua LNG Project in New Guinea from national operator Oil Search.
Oil Search has increased its production targets after achieving a record quarterly output in the second quarter of the year. The company said it now expects its production to be between 27 and 29mmboe (million barrels of oil equivalent). A previous estimate by the Papua New Guinea focused oil and gas producer had been between 26 and 28mmboe.