Petronas submits modified bid for Progress Energy

Petronas has submitted a modified bid for Canada’s Progress Energy Resources, a company source with knowledge of the matter said, after the Canadian government blocked a US$5.2 billion (RM15.6 billion) deal last month.
The oil company’s chief negotiator is back in Kuala Lumpur after submitting the revised bid in Canada, the source told Reuters today. The source did not say what the changes were from the original bid.

A Petronas spokesman declined to comment on the matter.

Canada blocked Petronas’s bid for Progress in October, with Industry Minister Christian Paradis saying it was unlikely to bring a “net benefit” to the country. Petronas and Progress are planning a multibillion-dollar liquefied natural gas plant on Canada’s west coast.

Petronas had previously said it plans to make further submissions to win approval.

The firm’s chief executive, Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar Abbas, was reported as saying by the Financial Times this week that Petronas would add more independent directors to the board of Progress to sweeten the deal.

The Canadian government, sources have told Reuters, wanted to approve the deal but was afraid doing so would tie its hands when reviewing a much more controversial US$15.1 billion bid by China’s CNOOC Ltd for Nexen Inc.

Shares in Nexen and Progress jumped about 3 per cent yesterday after a report suggested Ottawa might speed up its decision on whether to allow the Nexen deal. — Reuters