agl

Optimist in me would like to think that AGL are happy enough with what they have with ECU


http://business.smh.com.au/business/agl-rejects-bgs-gas-assets-20090415-a6ue.html


AGL rejects BG's gas assetsClancy Yeates
April 15, 2009 - 11:26AM
AGL Energy has declined to exercise options to acquire gas fields and a power station in Queensland from Britain's BG Group, pausing in its campaign to bulk up gas reserves.

AGL this morning said it would not pursue the acquisitions worth about $1 billion after its buying spree in NSW late last year, when it bought Sydney Gas and assets from Molopo Australia in the Gloucester Basin for close to $500 million.

The options were for coal-seam gas fields called Polaris and Lacerta that were previously owned by the Queensland Gas Company (QGC), acquired by AGL when it agreed to sell its 22% stake to BG in last year's $5.5 billion takeover deal of QGC.

"We are comfortable that our medium-term strategic target of securing 2000 petajoules of equity gas can be achieved from recent acquisitions without the need for Lacerta/Polaris in our portfolio,'' AGL's managing director, Michael Fraser, said in a statement.

AGL also declined to exercise an option to acquire Condamine Power Station, saying its existing power stations in Queensland made better economic sense.

Market analysts say a higher priority for AGL may be the NSW power privatisation, which puts on sale the state's retailers, development sites, and the right to buy power output.

The sale is expected to fetch about $6 billion, with AGL and Origin Energy considered front-runners.

The company said the decision had no impact on its latest 2009 guidance issued in February, when it projected between $370 million to $400 million in profit.

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Sydney Morning Herald