nxs - fyi

March 18 (Bloomberg) -- Nexus Energy Ltd., the Australian oil company seeking to sell assets to help fund the Crux condensates project, said a process to divest a stake in the venture has failed to result in an “acceptable” offer.

The company extended a share suspension while it continues negotiations on other asset sales, debt-raising and drilling contracts, Melbourne-based Nexus said today in a statement to the Australian stock exchange. Chief Financial Officer Peter Thomas resigned.

A 67 percent slump in crude oil prices from a July record and a deepening global recession have hampered Nexus’s attempts to sell a stake in Crux. Today Nexus said it put the project on hold as it seeks to cut spending. The company said yesterday it received conditional offers worth about A$100 million ($66 million) for an exploration asset and debt funding amid efforts to avoid defaulting on debt and contract commitments.

“Nexus appears to be looking to get a deal to fund their short-term commitments while they delay their Crux development,” said Scott Simpson, a Perth-based analyst at Patersons Securities Ltd. “They seem to be taking a view that the oil price and the financial markets will improve in the short to medium term and they’re happy to wait until then to get the most upside from Crux.”

Managing Director Ian Tchacos couldn’t be reached for comment.

Deutsche Bank

Nexus last traded at 38 Australian cents on the exchange on March 6, giving the company a market value of about A$245 million. The company yesterday reported a first-half net loss of A$67.8 million, compared with a year-earlier profit of A$40.1 million.

Nexus hired Deutsche Bank AG in October to manage a process for the sale of a stake in Crux, a condensates project off Australia’s northern coast in which Osaka Gas Co. is a partner, after Mitsui & Co. scrapped a plan to buy an interest for $255 million. The project, which was due to start up in the first half of 2011, will cost between $650 million and $700 million to develop, based on the use of a leased production vessel, Nexus estimates.

Talks on the potential sale of a stake in an exploration venture, debt raising and contractual obligations should be completed by March 31, Nexus said in today’s statement.

“Nexus is committed to resolving these negotiations as soon as possible, at which time the company will make a substantive release to the market, such that trading in its shares can resume,” it said.

Transocean Rig

Nexus signed a contract in June with Transocean Inc.’s Sedco Forex International unit for a rig to drill wells over 260 days at the Crux field, including the Auriga prospect. The company is due to take delivery of the rig in May, said Jodie Phillips, a spokeswoman, declining to reveal the cost. Nexus also committed to buying some equipment for the Crux ventures, which require some payments this year, she said.

“We’re working very hard to try and defer any obligations,” Phillips said. She declined to comment on Thomas’s resignation.

Nexus’s Longtom natural gas project off the southeast coast remains on schedule to start production in mid-2009, it said.