| Subject: Herald Sun: Joint deal on Timor
gas
Herald Sun (Australia) February 24, 2001 Joint deal on Timor gas By JOHN McCARTHY WOODSIDE and Phillips Petroleum have formalised an agreement to co-operate in the development of Timor Sea assets at Bayu Undan and Greater Sunrise. Under a deal announced yesterday, the development costs of both projects will be slashed by as much as $1 billion. Phillips will also get marketing rights over Bayu Undan gas which will be backed up by gas from Sunrise, giving customers the confidence to sign long-term contracts. Woodside will hand Phillips an extra 16 per cent of the Greater Sunrise project, giving it a total 30 per cent. In return Phillips will pay Woodside's capital costs for developing Sunrise to the value of $US176 million ($A338 million). Woodside will retain a 33 per cent stake in Greater Sunrise after the completion of the deal. Phillips Australia president Stephen Brand said the sharing of offshore pipeline infrastructure and co-ordination of offshore and onshore operations would reduce the development costs of both fields while meeting the requirements of a large customer base in the Northern Territory and the east coast. Other participants in the Greater Sunrise project, Shell and Osaka Gas, have pre-emptive rights under the joint operating agreements and Shell has agreed to waive its pre-emptive right in respect of this transfer. In the event of Shell taking control of Woodside, Phillips also has an option to further increase its equity in Greater Sunrise to a level equal to Shell. This was apparently a key point in the negotiation of the deal. Shell has also offered Woodside an option on a 25 per cent interest in the Shell-operated Evans Shoal gas field. February Note: For those who would like to fax "the powers that be" - CallCenter is a Native 32-bit Voice Telephony software application integrated with fax and data communications... and it's free of charge! Download from http://www.v3inc.com/ |