Thursday, August 04, 2005
LexisNexis(TM) Academic - Document
Financial Times (London, England)
August 4, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 2
SECTION: COMPANIES ASIA-PACIFIC; Pg. 22
LENGTH: 444 words
HEADLINE: CNOOC might look to Australian groups OIL & GAS:
BYLINE: By TIM JOHNSTON
DATELINE: SYDNEY
BODY:
The failure of CNOOC's bid for Unocal has revived speculation that the company might set its sights on Australia's Woodside Petroleum or Santos.
But analysts are warning any such acquisition plans could run into political problems in Canberra and say the potential targets would come at a high price.
Although CNOOC's expansion plans have been temporarily blunted by the Unocal setback, China's hunger for reliable sources of oil is unlikely to remain contained for long, and Asian acquisitions would be a logical next step.
CNOOC is involved with Woodside, Australia's biggest oil and gas company, through the North West Shelf Venture, which Woodside operates and owns a 17 per cent share.
Woodside also has interests in assets in the Timor sea, off Western Australia and in Algeria and says it aims to more than double production to more than 150m barrels of oil equivalent by 2010. It has a market capitalisation of ADollars 20.33bn (USDollars 15.6bn) and made record net profits last year of ADollars 1.08bn.
Woodside yesterday declined to comment on speculation it might be a takeover target.
Santos is smaller, with a market capitalisation of ADollars 6.46bn and production of 47m boe in 2004 principally from assets in Australia and south-east Asia.
Woodside is 34 per cent owned by Royal Dutch/Shell, giving CNOOC an obvious acquisition route, but any bid is likely to run into political barriers in Australia. The government has proved highly sensitive to the question of ownership of Woodside, and in 2001 Peter Costello, Australia's Treasurer, rejected Shell's bid to take a controlling shareholding in the company on the grounds that it would be against the national interest.
Political scientists believe the government would take a similar line on any move by CNOOC, partially following the lead of the US over the Unocal bid, and partially playing to the xenophobic tendencies of the Australian electorate.
"They would say in terms of principle that this is too close to a national security issue, particularly when there is a national anxiety regarding fuel," said Dr Michael McKinley, a lecturer in International Relations and Strategy at the Australian National University in Canberra.
But he says it would be a difficult decision for the government nonetheless, particularly given western attempts to persuade China to open up its domestic markets.
Speculation has added to rising oil prices to drive up the shares of both Woodside and Santos. Woodside hit a record high of ADollars 31.15 on Tuesday, up 1.9 per cent and Santos closed up 3.4 per cent at ADollars 11.08, although that was assisted by the announcement of a new gas find off the coast of Victoria.
LOAD-DATE: August 3, 2005
August 4, 2005 Thursday
London Edition 2
SECTION: COMPANIES ASIA-PACIFIC; Pg. 22
LENGTH: 444 words
HEADLINE: CNOOC might look to Australian groups OIL & GAS:
BYLINE: By TIM JOHNSTON
DATELINE: SYDNEY
BODY:
The failure of CNOOC's bid for Unocal has revived speculation that the company might set its sights on Australia's Woodside Petroleum or Santos.
But analysts are warning any such acquisition plans could run into political problems in Canberra and say the potential targets would come at a high price.
Although CNOOC's expansion plans have been temporarily blunted by the Unocal setback, China's hunger for reliable sources of oil is unlikely to remain contained for long, and Asian acquisitions would be a logical next step.
CNOOC is involved with Woodside, Australia's biggest oil and gas company, through the North West Shelf Venture, which Woodside operates and owns a 17 per cent share.
Woodside also has interests in assets in the Timor sea, off Western Australia and in Algeria and says it aims to more than double production to more than 150m barrels of oil equivalent by 2010. It has a market capitalisation of ADollars 20.33bn (USDollars 15.6bn) and made record net profits last year of ADollars 1.08bn.
Woodside yesterday declined to comment on speculation it might be a takeover target.
Santos is smaller, with a market capitalisation of ADollars 6.46bn and production of 47m boe in 2004 principally from assets in Australia and south-east Asia.
Woodside is 34 per cent owned by Royal Dutch/Shell, giving CNOOC an obvious acquisition route, but any bid is likely to run into political barriers in Australia. The government has proved highly sensitive to the question of ownership of Woodside, and in 2001 Peter Costello, Australia's Treasurer, rejected Shell's bid to take a controlling shareholding in the company on the grounds that it would be against the national interest.
Political scientists believe the government would take a similar line on any move by CNOOC, partially following the lead of the US over the Unocal bid, and partially playing to the xenophobic tendencies of the Australian electorate.
"They would say in terms of principle that this is too close to a national security issue, particularly when there is a national anxiety regarding fuel," said Dr Michael McKinley, a lecturer in International Relations and Strategy at the Australian National University in Canberra.
But he says it would be a difficult decision for the government nonetheless, particularly given western attempts to persuade China to open up its domestic markets.
Speculation has added to rising oil prices to drive up the shares of both Woodside and Santos. Woodside hit a record high of ADollars 31.15 on Tuesday, up 1.9 per cent and Santos closed up 3.4 per cent at ADollars 11.08, although that was assisted by the announcement of a new gas find off the coast of Victoria.
LOAD-DATE: August 3, 2005
# posted by Eastlaw @ 3:49 AM 
