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The following maybe of interest.

DataRoom AM: Leviathan lunge
Daniel Palmer
1 hour ago

DataRoom
Breakfast Deals

The joint venture partners in the Leviathan gas field are reportedly on their way to Australia to sign a final deal with Woodside Petroleum. But just how much extra will the Australian firm pay to claim the 30 per cent slice it has long sought?

Elsewhere, Royal Dutch Shell receives strong final bids for its petrol retail and refining assets in Australia, the race for JPMorgan’s physical commodities division appears to be down to two, talk over the proposed merger between Myer Holdings and David Jones continues to simmer and the shake-up in the local dairy sector continues apace.

Woodside Petroleum

Woodside Petroleum is reportedly ready to put pen to paper on a deal to buy into the mammoth Leviathan gas field in Israel.

The Australian oil & gas group signed a memorandum of understanding in December 2012 to claim 30 per cent of the near-$10billion development for up to $US2.3 billion ($A2.63 billion).

Now it will offload $US3 billion for 30 per cent, according to Israeli news service Globes, matching the price indicated in this column a few weeks’ ago. It means that Woodside will be paying 30.4 per cent more in US dollar terms than originally slated, though that percentage rises when you compare the respective Australian dollar numbers.

Given the local unit has fallen significantly since the MOU deal, the price is around 55 per cent higher in Australian dollar terms.

The increase to the cost can be put down to a shoring up of a larger resource, the de-risking of the project through positive policy decisions in Israel and a reduced need for Woodside’s floating LNG expertise.

The Leviathan joint venture partners – Ratio Oil Exploration, Delek Group and Noble Energy – also signed their first customer this month ahead of production slated to begin in 2017. A final investment decision, however, is still eagerly awaited despite expectations one would come last year.

Senior representatives of Noble, Delek and Ratio reportedly flew to Australia over the weekend to sign a final deal this week. And given Noble is due to announce its latest earnings results on Friday morning Australian time, it is likely its executives will be keen to have the agreement wrapped up early in the week.

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/article/2014/2/3/breakfast-deals/dataroom-am-leviathan-lunge?utm_source=exact&utm_medium=email&utm_content=571726&utm_campaign=am&modapt=