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http://www.nasdaq.com/aspx/stock-market-news-story.aspx?storyid=200909151839dowjonesdjonline000616&title=interview-santos-ceo-sees-papua-new-guinea-lng-ok-by-year-end

INTERVIEW: Santos CEO Sees Papua New Guinea LNG OK By Year End


By Cynthia Koons, Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- Santos Ltd. (STO.AU) Chief Executive David Knox told Dow Jones Newswires Tuesday he expects the ExxonMobil Corp.(XOM)-led Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas project to be approved this year and the deal to be closed in the first quarter of 2010.

"All being well, we will approve that project this year," he said in response to a question on whether the company is still set to make its final investment decision on that project this year.

This talk comes on the heels of Chevron Corp. (CVX), Exxon Mobil Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell PLC's (RDSA) agreement to proceed with the more than A$43 billion Gorgon natural gas project in western Australia.

Australia's LNG sector is set to boom with a number of sizable projects on the drawing board, nearing the final stages.

For its part, Santos has four LNG projects on its plate and is partnering with larger companies to help it both financially and technically.

"We've been simplifying our portfolio," Knox said, adding that Santos has sold smaller assets in order to focus on the larger projects.

Both the Gorgon and Papua New Guinea projects already have signed customers for significant portions of their projected supply.

A state-imposed 15% shareholder ownership cap on Santos stock was lifted in November, sparking speculation that larger players could bid for the Adelaide- based company.

"Others can speculate all they like, but we're very much focused on delivering what we're doing," Knox said.

As to whether the company has been approached he said: "We're just like any other firm, there's continuous flow of information and discussions, we're just like any other business now."

Santos has until Christmas to decide whether it will exercise an option to sell another 1 million tons from the Gladstone project to Petronas in addition to the 2 million it has already contracted to sell to the Malaysian oil and gas company.

Santos's coal seam gas LNG joint venture at Gladstone in Queensland state plans to ship its first LNG in 2014.

-By Cynthia Koons, Dow Jones Newswires; 347-522-0894; cynthia.koons@ dowjones.com

By not confirming or denying from a Santos CEO is probably fueling the fires of takeover specualating IMHO.