bloomberg article - fyi

China Buyers May Target Oil Search, Karoon Gas, Bernstein Says
May 28, 2010, 12:22 AM EDT
MORE FROM BUSINESSWEEK

Karoon Gas Rises Most in Three Months on Well Tests (Update1)
Karoon Gas Shares Decline as Much as 32% in Sydney Trading
BHP, Karoon Gas, Rio, UGL, Woodside: Australian Equity Preview
Arrow Shares Halted Amid Talk of Sweetened Takeover (Update3)
BHP, IAG, Newcrest, UGL, Woodside: Australian Equity Preview
STORY TOOLS
e-mail this story
print this story
digg this
save to del.icio.us
add to Business Exchange
By James Paton
May 28 (Bloomberg) -- Oil Search Ltd., Karoon Gas Australia Ltd. and InterOil Corp. are among potential acquisition targets as companies in China, the world?s fastest-growing major economy, seek to snap up gas resources, Sanford C. Bernstein & Co. said.
Spending on overseas acquisitions by oil and gas companies in China and India may more than double to $30 billion in 2010 from a year earlier, assuming oil prices stay between $70 a barrel and $80 a barrel, Neil Beveridge, a Hong Kong-based analyst at Bernstein, said in a report to clients today.
China is likely to keep hunting for resources that can be developed as liquefied natural gas after PetroChina Co. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc agreed to acquire Australia?s Arrow Energy Ltd. for A$3.5 billion ($3 billion), he said in an e-mail.
?Conditions are ripe for more deals,? he said. ?Although energy security is a prime factor in overseas M&A, the cost of acquiring proven reserves overseas is in many cases cheaper than replacing reserves domestically through the drill bit.?
Oil Search, based in Port Moresby, is a partner in a $15 billion LNG project operated by Exxon Mobil Corp. in Papua New Guinea and is the nation?s largest oil and gas producer. Papua New Guinea government officials also signed an agreement approving a plan by InterOil to build an LNG plant in the country, the energy company announced in December.
Ann Diamant, a Sydney-based spokeswoman for Oil Search, and Anesti Dermedgoglou, a vice president of investor relations for InterOil in Cairns, Australia, did not immediately return calls.
Karoon Gas Australia, based in Mt. Martha, Victoria, is ConocoPhillips? partner in a gas venture off the country?s northwest coast that may have the potential to support an LNG plant. Karoon has not ?had any offers and we don?t expect to have any,? Scott Hosking, company secretary, said by phone today. Karoon is concentrating on developing the gas resources, he said.
Targets for China and India are likely to be companies with stock market values ranging between $2 billion and $10 billion in locations such as Africa, Latin America and Canada, said Beveridge, who identified 14 possible takeover targets.
--Editors: Alex Devine, Ang Bee Lin.
To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney [email protected].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Amit Prakash at [email protected].