CNOOC to get stake in Aussie project

CNOOC to get stake in Aussie project

PERTH: China's national offshore oil and gas company CNOOC will pay A$544 million (US$348 million) for a 5.3 percent stake in the massive North West Shelf (NWS) gas project off the Western Australian coast, it was announced here on Friday.

CNOOC Ltd. will also acquire a 25 percent interest in the China LNG Joint Venture, a new joint venture to be established within the NWS project, which will own the gas to be processed and supplied to the Guangdong LNG terminal in China.

Each of the six existing NWS partners -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd, BHP Billiton Ltd, BP, ChevronTexaco, Japan Australia LNG and Shell -- will hold 12.5 percent of the new joint venture.

NWS operator Woodside and CNOOC jointly announced the completion of the acquisition agreements.

This follows the signing of a A$25 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract between the NWS and CNOOC last August and the agreement of subsequent key terms, announced in October. --AFP