Woodside Petroleum buys half of BHP´s Australian offshore LNG assets

5th Sep 2016 08:46

(ShareCast News) - Woodside Petroleum picked up half of BHP Billiton´s stake in the Scarborough natural gas field offshore Western Australia.Perth, Australia-based Woodside acquired a 25% interest in offshore permit WA-1-R and a 50% interest in WA-62-R which together contained the Scarborough area assets, plus 50% interests in WA-61-R and WA-63-R which included the Jupiter and Thebe gas prospects, for a total consideration of $250m.Exxon Mobil continued to be the operator of WA-1-R, with Woodside taking on that role in the other three deposits.The effective date of the transaction was set as 1 July 2016.Woodside agreed to pay another $150, once a positive final investment decision was adopted to develop Scarborough.Scarborough, Thebe and Jupiter held an estimated 8.7trn cubic feet of gas resources, with 2.6trn of those accruing to Woodside.Woodside chief Peter Coleman emphasised how the purchase of the Carnarvon Basin volumes complemented his company´s growth strategy, allowing it to leverage its deep water and LNG capabilities.One option open to Woodside following the purchase was to use the Scarborough field to backfill its existing LNG facilities, instead of developing a floating LNG project, which was still considered to be the favoured option."Woodside is committed to working with the Scarborough JV to ensure the asset is commercialised and Retention Lease obligations are satisfied. The JV is currently working FLNG as its preferred development option and Woodside supports this work," he said in a statement."If the Scarborough JV elects to look at other development options, including an onshore tieback via Woodside operated infrastructure, then Woodside would offer its support in understanding these opportunities," Coleman said in a statement.Under Coleman´s leadership Woodside had been quite active throughtout the recent period of low oil and natgural gas prices, undertaking or pursuing various transactions.That included the $430m purchase in July of Conoco Phillips's exploration acreage offshore Senegal.As of 0904 BST shares in BHP Billiton were up by 2.16% at 1,012.50p, while shares in Woodside Petroleum closed 1.53% higher at AUD$28.51 in Sydney trading.