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Thursday, 08 January, 2009, 20:10 GMT | more >>

Santos raises stakes in QGC bid



By Upstream staff 

Australian oil and gas producer Santos said today it would put 9 trillion cubic feet of gas into a new company it planned to spin off from Queensland Gas Company (QGC), in a move to make its acquisition offer more attractive.

Santos, which increased its offer for QGC in January to ward off competition from AGL Energy, also said it would provide the new company, known as "New QGC", with a larger gas supply contract.

"New QGC will benefit from unique commercial agreements with Santos which will enable the new entity to quickly bring new gas supplies to market and be an active independent participant in a very competitive gas market from day one," Santos' managing director John Ellice-Flint said in a statement.

Santos' total cash offer of A$710 million ($554.6 million), upped from A$606 million originally, formed part of a complex proposal which included cash and shares in a new listed vehicle that would contain QGC's non-producing fields.

According to Reuters, the value of the improved proposal was about A$960 million.

Santos had previously not stated how much gas the proposed new company would have.

Australia's competition watchdog, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), is due to make a decision on Santos' proposal by March 1.

The ACCC has already given AGL's proposal a green light.


Thursday, 15 February, 2007, 07:33 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 15 February, 2007, 07:37 GMT

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