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