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Monday, 01 December, 2008, 22:10 GMT | more >>

Battered AED eyes sell-off offers



By Upstream staff 

Troubled Australian player AED said today it was considering offers from several unnamed parties for the sale of some of its assets.

Trading in its shares will be halted for two days, during which it said it expects to be able to make an announcement.

The company’s shares were hit earlier this month on claims it had not paid a contractor on its Puffin project.

AED said in January it had received several approaches from international and Australian outfits wanting to invest in its fully-owned Puffin and Talbot oilfields off Western Australia. It has appointed Macquarie Group to carry out a review of its business.

AED became an investor favourite in June after it said it was likely to have up to 100 million barrels of recoverable oil at Puffin and Talbot, up sharply from an earlier estimate of 40 million barrels.

But its stock has plunged from a record A$11.40 in October as technical problems slashed output from its Puffin North-East field to between just 6000 and 10,000 barrels per day, well short of its initial forecast of 30,000 bpd.

Shares in AED took a further hit after Norwegian oil services company AGR Group said AED was overdue in paying a subsidiary about A$41.5 million. AED had said it was still cashflow positive and that it was in discussions with AGR over payments.

AED's shares last traded at A$1.85, Reuters reported.


Thursday, 28 February, 2008, 03:08 GMT  | last updated: Thursday, 28 February, 2008, 07:08 GMT

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