Petronas Chemicals Group Bhd (PChem) and German chemicals giant BASF are investing US$500mil (RM1.5bil) in an integrated aroma ingredients production facility in Gebeng, Kuantan, expanding on an existing joint venture (JV) there.
The project, which is subject to a final investment decision by the board of PChem before the end of the year, will be executed on a 60:40 basis between BASF, the world’s largest chemicals maker, and PChem.
Both companies already have a JV in the form of BASF-Petronas Chemicals Sdn Bhd, which operates a complex in Gebeng, Kuantan, that produces acrylic monomers, oxo products and butanediol, also on a 60:40 basis.
PChem said in a statement to the stock exchange yesterday that the new aroma ingredients plant would enable the firm to meet growing global demand in the flavour and fragrance industry, especially in Asia.
The proposed complex will comprise a plant for citral and the precursor plants, which will be integrated with PChem and BASF’s facilities in Gebeng.
They will also invest in downstream production for aroma ingredients, including a new world-scale plant for L-menthol and a plant for citronellol.
To be developed in phases, the first plant will be operational by 2016, creating some 110 new employment opportunities.
“The integrated aroma chemicals complex would open up a new business frontier for PChem, tapping into the flavours, fragrance and pharmaceutical markets.
“This indeed presents exciting prospects for the company, as we endeavour to provide innovative customer solutions,” PChem chairman Datuk Wan Zulkiflee Wan Ariffin said.
“The Gebeng expansion adds further value creation to our existing product streams, and we are strengthening the JV by leveraging on our strategic partner’s technology and expertise in the aroma ingredients,” president/CEO Dr Abd Hapiz Abdullah said.
BASF is one of the leading producers of aroma ingredients worldwide, with a product range that includes geraniol, citronellol, linalool and L-menthol.
Aroma ingredients are sold to the flavour and fragrance industry and used mainly in home and personal care products and fine fragrances, as well as in the food industry.
SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd, Malaysia's biggest oil and gas (O&G) services company, is bidding for RM18.3bil (US$6bil) of new contracts in countries mainly outside South-East Asia as it seeks to double its order book.
The Selangor, Malaysia-based company, with existing orders of US$6bil, sees growth in South America, East and West Africa, and India, chief executive officer Datuk Shahril Shamsuddin said in an interview in Singapore. About 40% of the contracts it's bidding for are in Brazil, while another 30% are for work in India and Africa, he said.
SapuraKencana won shareholder approval yesterday for its US$2.9bil purchase of the tender-rig operations of Seadrill Ltd. The deal will make it the world's largest operator of tender rigs with 51% of market share.
Shahril is overseeing the acquisition about 10 months after SapuraKencana was formed by the RM11.9bil (US$3.9bil) merger of two Malaysian O&G companies.
“Moving ahead, the major acquisitions have already been made,” Shahril said in an interview with Rishaad Salamat on Bloomberg Television's On the Move Asia'.
“The main objective now is to consolidate.” The stock fell 1% to RM3.05 in Kuala Lumpur trading at 11:24 am local time. It's advanced 45% since it began trading on May 17, compared with the 10% rise in the FBM KLCI Index.
Tender rigs are barges that carry drilling equipment to oil platforms at sea which can be removed when work is completed, Shahril said. This gives SapuraKencana the option of flexible vessels that can move from one site to another without the need for a permanently installed drilling package, he said.
Investors approved the Seadrill deal including the placement of 587 million new SapuraKencana shares at 2.80 ringgit apiece, the Malaysian company said in a statement yesterday. SapuraKencana gains 13 tender rigs as part of the acquisition, in addition to the 5 rigs it owns with Seadrill under a joint venture, Shahril said. After the transaction it will operate 21 tender rigs, including five under construction.
SapuraKencana was created last year following the merger between SapuraCrest Petroleum Bhd. and Kencana Petroleum Bhd. The chairman of the latter is Datuk Mokhzani Mahathir, the son of former Malaysian Prime Minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamad. - Bloomberg
Shareholders of Sapura Kencana Petroleum Bhd are expected to approve its acquisition of the entire tender rig segment belonging to Seadrill, the leading Norwegian global drilling company, at the upcoming extraordinary general meeting on April 23, analysts said.
In what is surely a strategic acquisition that will position it as a world leader for tender rigs, they see no problem in getting shareholders approval, given the solid shareholding by owners and friendly parties.
The significance of this EGM is that it will be a watershed meeting for the company, the analysts said.
Shareholders' approval for the deal means that the merger and acquisition exercise becomes formalised and final.
In effect, it means the deal is done and the only remaining formalities are the transfer of monies and paperwork.
Analysts have said that as such, this massive deal worth US$2.9 billion would have been completed in a record six months or so.
The loan financing is in place and there is also a share issuance to satisfy the deal.
With the completion of the deal, Sapura Kencana becomes the world leader in the tender rig segment - the first time a Malaysian company has reached such a status.
Tender rigs are used in drilling up to a depth of 6,500 feet.
The deal enables one representative from Seadrill to sit on the Sapura Kencana board, bringing on a wealth of international experience, expertise and market connections.
Under the deal, Seadrill's stake in Sapura Kencana will rise to 12.5 percent from 6.4 percent.
The two companies won a Brazilian pipe laying vessel deal for US$1.4 billion and are awaiting results for another similar tender in Brazil.
Now Sapura Kencana can go into new markets such as in Africa and Mexico, armed with their tender rigs.
The work force will also expand to about 10,000.
Since the deal was announced, the company's share price has been rising with research houses clearly denoting it as a "buy" stock.
Against such a backdrop, shareholders would be eager to close the deal quickly and get on with what is surely a lucrative global business venture.
-- BERNAMA
KUALA LUMPUR: Australia-listed Mission NewEnergy Ltd's subsidiary has served a winding-up petition on KNM Group Bhd's unit, claiming the latter failed to pay A$3.80mil (RM12.2mil).
Misson NewEnergy said in a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange on Monday its subsidiary Mission Biofuels Sdn Bhd had served the petition to wind up KNM Process System Sdn Bhd over the sum plus interest.
It claimed the amount was related to liquidated ascertained damages under the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning contract (EPCC) of Mission's second biodiesel refinery in Malaysia.
"These invoices were presented to KNM (KNM Process System) over the last two years and despite a letter of demand served on KNM by Mission Biofuels' solicitors, KNM has failed to pay," it said.
The hearing of the winding-up would be on July 18.
Dayang Enterprise Holdings Bhd (Dayang) is a strong contender for the soon-to-be awarded Pan Malaysia Hook-Up and Commissioning (HUC) tender worth between RM8 to RM10 billion, RHB Investment Bank said in a research report.
Following an internal coverage revamp, the investment bank said it was revisiting its financial model and expected RM400 million in annual order book replenishment for Dayang Enterprise, which provides offshore maintenance services, minor fabrication and offshore hook-up and commissioning services.
The Pan Malaysia HUC tender comprises the multi-year umbrella transport and installation contract covering oil and gas development throughout Malaysia.
Dayang’s existing RM1.2 billion strong order book was stretching up to 2017 and this reinforces the investment bank’s conviction for the stock.
“We believe that the company could potentially secure at least RM2 billion worth of jobs which will translate into an annual orderbook replenishment of RM400 million, moving forward,” it said.
The report said that a higher than expected order win could prompt a further re-rating, given the long-term tenure of the contract.
“This will boost Dayang Enterprise’s earnings visibility and we estimate that every additional RM100 million in contract value won per annum would lift our financial year 2014 earnings estimate by 14.3 per cent,” the report said.
Given that Dayang had the option to charter vessels from its associate company, Perdana Petroleum, the report said the group would have the capacity to accept the anticipated contract should it secure the tender.
Dayang was sitting on a solid balance sheet with net cash totalling RM86.1 million.
Since 2010, the company has been consistently paying out more that 50 per cent in terms of dividends from its total earnings.
Assuming a dividend payout of 50 per cent, investors could look forward to dividend yields of 3.2 per cent for the current financial year and 4.2 per cent for next year, the report said. — Bernama
PARIS – Persada Engineering has contracted Nexans to supply an electro/hydraulic umbilical for Sarawak Shell Berhad’s F29 field development.
The 22-km (13.7-mi) long umbilical will go into water depths of approximately 100 m (328 ft). Nexans is responsible for the supply and transportation of the umbilical on a fasttrack turnaround of 72 weeks.
The umbilical will be manufactured at Nexans’ Halden, Norway, facility.
China National Petroleum Corp and Malaysia's Petronas are considering bids for Marathon Oil Corp's stakes in two Angolan offshore oil and gas fields, people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
The sale comes as U.S. oil and gas producers scale back their global ambitions to focus on their home market, opening the field for Asia's state-backed giants. An estimated $6 billion worth of oil and gas blocks are being sold by companies worldwide, according to ThomsonReuters data.
Houston-based Marathon first laid out plans in late 2011 to divest up to $3 billion worth of assets to plough money back into other operations.
Marathon has put its entire 10 percent stake each in Blocks 31 and 32 offshore Angola up for sale, the people said. The two Asian energy companies are working with advisors to place bids, though no deal was imminent, they added.
BP, Total SA and Angolan state energy company Sonangol are among Marathon's partners.
Marathon, CNPC and Petronas declined to comment. Sources declined to be identified as the sale process is confidential.
Africa is emerging as the new frontier for oil and gas exploration, with early investors often cashing out.
With Asian acquirers turning aggressive, their share in global oil and gas deals has more than doubled from a decade back, according to Thomson Reuters data. Asia's share in global oil and gas M&A climbed to 19.6 percent in 2012, from 7.6 percent in 2003, the data shows. This comes as global oil and gas M&A jumped to a record $345.9 billion last year. - Reuters
Petroliam Nasional Bhd clarified on Wednesday it had not entered into any agreement over the oil blocks in Brazil.
It issued the statement following news reports about its possible acquisition of OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA (OGX)'s interest in the Tubarao Martelo oil block in Brazil's Campos Basin.
"Petronas has not entered into any agreement with OGX or any other party with regards to any oil blocks in Brazil," it said.
Bloomberg reported Brazilian billionaire Eike Batista was seeking to sell 40% of the Tubarao Martelo oil block in Brazil's Campos Basin for US$1bil (RM3.04bil) as soon as next month, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said.
OGX Petroleo & Gas Participacoes SA, the oil producer controlled by Batista, is in advanced talks with Petroliam Nasional Bhd (Petronas), said the person, who requested anonymity because the negotiations were private.
Batista, 56, is selling assets and reshuffling management teams at his interlinked commodities and logistics units amid investor concerns that the billionaire's businesses were losing access to financing.
Shares at his public companies have declined as much as 90% in the past year after OGX cut oil output targets, erasing more than US$27bil of Batista's personal fortune since March 2012.
Oil and gas operators in Sabah want Petronas president Tan Sri Shamsul Azhar to resign, accusing him of failing to effectively manage the national oil conglomerate and failing to give Sabah a fair return from the natural resources extracted from its waters.
Sabah Oil and Gas Contractors Association (SOGCA), together with its Peninsular Malaysia partner, the Malay Economic Action Council (MTEM), yesterday expressed their disappointment over Petronas leadership and demanded for several specific changes to be introduced to safeguard the interest of the local companies.
SOGCA president Datuk Iskandar Malik said apart from appointing a new president to helm Petronas, SOGCA-MTEM also called on the government to consider having three or more individuals from Sabah to sit on the company’s board of directors.
He said they also wanted at least one Sabahan to be appointed as executive vice president, in addition to a Sarawakian currently holding the post.
“In addition, we also hope that both Petronas and the government will ensure that for every RM1 profit derived from operations in Sabah, RM0.30 should be given directly to state-based companies,” he said, reading from a written statement later issued to the press.
Realising the need to highlight issues faced by SOGCA members in the state, as well as other oil and gas industry players in Sabah, he said the association had decided to work alongside MTEM to set up a 1Malaysia Oil and Gas Development Programme (1MOGDP).
The proposed programme, he said, was aimed to enhance the oil and gas industry in Sabah and more importantly empower local companies to more actively participate in the sector.
According to him, Petronas currently does not have an active policy for Sabahans in terms of contracting and business opportunities, which resulted in locals getting crumbs and Sabah contractors only given low margin sub-contact projects.
He said it was disappointing that the bulk of profits from the Malaysian oil and gas projects continued to go to foreign companies such as Samsung, which awarded projects to Korean companies and employed workers from Thailand, Indonesia and the Philippines.
Iskandar also described the implementation of the Alliance Integrated Team (AIT) Concept by Petronas in Sabah as “suffocating the local contractors”, claiming it had given more power to Samsung and allowed it to manipulate the award of contracts and sub-contracts.
“The Korean sub-contractors would then sub-contract the tasks to local contractors, but of course it is based on ‘take it or leave it’ basis. We do not understand how Petronas can allow the foreign company to sub-contract the tasks to local companies, when they can award us the project directly,” he questioned.
In this regard, he said SOGCA suggested that Petronas’ seconded staff at AIT be rotated in order to neutralise ‘powerful’ roles in any of its projects in Sabah.
According to him, Sabahans were beginning to get more skeptical about Petronas’ claim of giving contract jobs to them, which has yet to happen until now.
He said the decision to pipe gas from Sabah Oil and Gas Terminal (SOGT) in Kimanis to the Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) complex in Bintulu, Sarawak had not gone well as Sabahans felt they had been deprived of a highly lucrative project and its spin-offs.
Chairman of MTEM’s Oil and Gas Cluster, Tengku Putra Ahmad meanwhile urged the government to decentralize the licensing for oil and gas projects in Sabah, taking into consideration that the state contributed about 36 per cent of the country’s overall oil revenues.
He said MTEM-SOGCA wanted Petronas to implement the proposed 1MOGDP, which MTEM had presented to the company during a closed door meeting in February.
“In view of the coming 13th general election, we call on all Sabahans in particular, and Malaysians in general, to come together and urged contesting candidates to make a pledge on the management of the oil and gas sector and to change the leadership of Petronas.
“The people must make sure that the halatuju of Petronas is geared towards ensuring economic development for the locals above the interest of foreign companies,” he said.
MTEM is a Peninsular-based coalition of Malay non-governmental organisations, who has been equally vocal of their disappointment towards Petronas and alleged that all the company’s major contracts were being awarded to foreign companies.
Claiming that equally qualified local companies were being sidelined, MTEM has been calling on the nation’s premier leader to intervene and ensure that the contracts are awarded fairly.
http://www.theborneopost.com
Puncak Niaga Holdings announced that its indirect wholly owned unit, GOM Resources Sdn Bhd, has bagged a service contract worth RM187.3 million from American oil company HESS.
Puncak Niaga told Bursa that the contract includes the provision of the integrated transportation and installation of offshore facilities for early production scheme, integrated gas development project and North Malay basin field.
It added the contract period will be 17.5 months and it has the option to extend for another two years by giving a written notice to GOM.
Puncak Niaga anticipates that the project would contribute positively to the future earnings and net assets of Puncak group.
Petronas is understood to have picked the Malaysian unit of France’s Technip to carry out a conceptual study on a potential offshore processing solution for its multi-billion dollar K5 high carbon dioxide gas field development off Sarawak.
The offshore option will be compared with an alternative study that focuses on onshore processing of the field’s output.
Technip will carry out the offshore processing study, which is expected to last at least six months, in Malaysia on a proposed multi-platform development to separate CO2 from K5 gas after it is extracted for re-injection into producing or depleted oil and gas fields up to 250 kilometres away from Bintulu.
This option involves the construction and installation of a central processing platform, two gas compression platforms and two wellhead platforms, according to sources.
The engineering work to be carried out by Technip in Kuala Lumpur will run concurrently with a 15-month joint study Petronas and France’s Total have been undertaking in Paris on an earlier proposal to gather the K5 gas at an offshore platform for transport to an onshore facility 230 kilometres away near the Bintulu liquefied natural gas plant.
Under this first plan, the CO2 stripped out from the gas would then be re-exported to the offshore fields between 200 and 250 kilometres away from Bintulu.
The results of the parallel studies will serve as the basis for drawing up a field development plan as well as any further negotiations between Petronas and Total on a production sharing contract for K5.
Gas from the shallow-water discovery contains about 70% CO2, but industry estimates place its recoverable resources at between 3 trillion cubic feet and 4 Tcf.
CO2 extracted from K5 is understood to be intended for re-injection into three fields — Jintan, Seria and M4.
Jintan and Seria lie in Block SK-8 and have been developed via tiebacks to the M1 and M3 complexes, respectively.
M4 is a depleted gas field that has been flagged up as a potential candidate for CO2 sequestration.
Upstream understands the parallel studies will also look at reinjecting CO2 in an unidentified field about 50 kilometres away from Bintulu to boost hydrocarbon recovery.
K5 stands as potentially the gas field with the highest CO2 content to be developed commercially in Malaysia.
The 1970 discovery came in top on recoverable hydrocarbon resources among 10 fields studied in 2006 for CO2 extraction off Sarawak.
Petronas is expected to follow up with a front-end engineering and design competition on the pioneering high CO2 gas field development-cum-carbon sequestration project as early as the second half of this year.
Gas from K5 will be exported to the Bintulu liquefied natural gas complex, currently undergoing expansion to add a ninth train with 3.6 million tonnes per annum processing capacity.
Petronas is believed to be looking at adding two further trains to the Bintulu complex now boasting nameplate capacity of 25.7 million tpa.
The Employees Provident Fund (EPF), which holds a 9.5% stake in MISC Bhd, has accepted Petroliam Nasional Bhd's (Petronas) revised offer price of RM5.50 per share to take the company private.
EPF's acceptance of the revised offer price brought the acceptance level to 17.1% as of yesterday. With this stake, Petronas' total shareholding was now 79.77%. The offer needs to reach the 90% acceptance level for it to become unconditional, thereby paving the way for the stock's delisting.
In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, MISC said the shares for which acceptances had been received but not verified stood at 0.01% as at 5pm yesterday.
EPF's acceptance confirms an earlier StarBiz report that EPF could “cave in” and accept the revised offer price of RM5.50 per share. By accepting the offer, EPF stands to pocket some RM2.33bil in gains.
Petronas had, on April 5, revised the offer price to RM5.50 from RM5.30. It would have to fork out RM9.2bil, about RM400mil more, to take its shipping arm private.
MISC's third-biggest minority group is Permodalan Nasional Bhd, which has a 6.35% equity interest through its various unit trusts.
MISC's other minority shareholders include Penang Development Corp and Pacific Mutual Fund Bhd, which hold a 1.3% and 0.09% interest, respectively.
On April 8, independent adviser AmInvestment Bank Bhd had advised shareholders to accept the revised offer, saying that it was “not fair” but “reasonable”.
It said that the offer was “not fair” as the revised offer price translated to a discount of between 3.3% and 9.8% to the range of the indicative sum-of-parts valuation (SOPV) of RM5.69 to RM6.10 per MISC share.
However, it added that the revised offer was “reasonable” all the same after taking into consideration the risks and challenges the shipping industry faced.
Meanwhile, research houses Kenanga Research and RHB Research have both recommended minority shareholders to accept the offer.
Kenanga Research said it maintained its recommendation for minority shareholders to accept the offer, given that the revised offer price was a better offer, and at a 19% premium above its SOPV of RM4.61.
It also believes that the shipping industry would continue to be negatively impacted by lower charter rates and higher bunker costs.
RHB Research, which had earlier recommended for minority shareholders to reject Petronas' initial offer, said that it would be difficult for the minority shareholders to ask for a higher offer price due to the uneven distribution of share ownership in MISC.
Moving forward, RHB said it foresaw a restructuring within the MISC group after it was taken private, which might potentially see its business entities eventually being re-listed separately. The remaining minority shareholders have until April 19 to either accept or reject the offer.
Yesterday, the counter closed one sen down to RM5.41, with 25.53 million shares being done.
SINGAPORE: Indonesia's oil export revenue is falling far below government expectations as output drops to a more than 40-year low, piling pressure on authorities to confront a widening trade deficit fuelled by energy subsidies that encourage consumption.
Aging fields and years of scant new discoveries mean Indonesia is exporting less crude, bringing home to the former Opec member the US$22bil cost 4% of economic output last year of its generous subsidy programme.
Crude and oil products export revenue for the first two months of the year have fallen 23% to US$2.2bil compared with the same period last year, while oil imports by value are up 16%, according to the statistics bureau.
That has translated into an oil trade deficit of US$4.9bil so far this year, widening from US$3.2bil a year ago.
“Fuel consumption and imports are surging on cheap fuel, with subsidised prices some 60% below international prices, and buoyant domestic demand,” said Chua Hak Bin, head of emerging Asia economics global research at Bank of America Merrill Lynch.
“We expect the government to introduce some rationing scheme or hike subsidised fuel prices in the coming months to contain the escalating fiscal costs and widening oil trade deficit.”
President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono could announce next week new measures to restrict the use of energy subsidies, which have provided Indonesians with the cheapest fuel in Asia.
But with elections looming next year, and memories of violent protests over fuel-price rises in 2005 and 2008, he is expected to bow to populist wishes and not scrap subsidies.
Instead, the president is considering a ban on the use of subsidised fuel by the nation's 11 million private cars, a move that could save the government US$8.6bil this year and erase a fiscal deficit, a presidential adviser said.
Indonesia's overall trade deficit widened to US$330mil in February, up from US$70mil the previous month.
Indonesia's state budget for 2013 has set an oil output target of 900,000 barrels per day, but the country's energy regulator SKKMigas said production was more likely to average around 830,000 bpd. That would be the lowest since 1969.
The government's take of total oil and gas revenues is expected to be about US$30bil or about 20% of the budget for this year, according to SKKMigas, sharply lower than the one-third that oil and gas sales contributed to state coffers each year back when Indonesia was a net exporter and a member of Opec.
Unless price increases can offset falling production or Indonesia can reverse the output decline, the contribution oil and gas makes to state will likely continue to fall.
Indonesia has often fallen short of production targets, with crude and condensate output declining at an annual rate of 3.8% between 1998 and 2011.
The production decline has mainly impacted exports as Indonesia now keeps the bulk of its output for domestic use, but it has also had to increase its imports of refined products as subsidies push up the use of cheap fuel.
Indonesia's crude export revenue will likely drop further this year as ample oil supplies weigh on prices while its top buyer Japan aims to reduce expensive oil imports for power use.
“This is definitely not great news for the trade deficit, but we have to remember that crude oil exports have not been a key driver of overall exports,” said Lim Su Sian, an economist with HSBC. Reuters
Alam Maritim Resources Bhd’s wholly owned subsidiary, Alam Maritim (M) Sdn Bhd, has secured two contracts with a combined value of RM85.2mil.
In an announcement to Bursa Malaysia, Alam Maritim said these contracts included a letter of award from Petronas Carigali Sdn Bhd for the provision of an accommodation vessel for a primary period of five years, with an optional extension for another one year. Valued at around RM61.32mil, this contract commenced on March 11, 2013.
It said the other contract was for the provision of a platform supply vessel and an extension of contract for a work barge from two established oil and gas services companies. The provision of the platform supply vessel is for a primary period of 270 days, with an optional extension for another 135 days, while the provision of the work barge is for 104 days with no option to extend.
Singapore-based Temasek Holdings Pte has appointed former Petroliam Nasional Bhd chief executive officer Tan Sri Hassan Marican as chairman of its new energy unit, Pavilion Energy Pte Ltd.
Bloomberg reported that Pavilion Energy, which has an initial authorised capital of S$1bil (RM2.5bil), would be operational in September and was set up to tap growing demand in Asia while focusing on liquefied natural gas (LNG).
China National Petroleum Corp. (CNPC) dan Petronas dikatakan antara gergasi sektor minyak dan gas yang sedang menilai untuk mengambilalih aktiviti minyak dan gas luar pesisir milik Marathon Oil Corp di Angola, menurut sumber terdekat.
Perkembangan itu bakal menjadi aktiviti jual beli terbaharu sektor itu di Afrika, dengan syarikat dari Asia itu menunjukkan minat yang tinggi ke atas pasaran baru.
Marathon Oil Corp. merupakan syarikat kerdil minyak dan gas dari Amerika Syarikat (AS) yang turut mempunyai aktiviti di Iraq, Norway dan Poland.
Agensi berita Reuters menganggarkan sekurang-kurangnya AS$6 bilion (RM18.6 bilion) nilai aktiviti minyak dan gas milik syarikat dari AS itu telah dijual, akibat tekanan pemegang sahamnya yang mahu mengambil kesempatan ke atas kemampuan syarikat dari Asia membeli perniagaan mereka.
Tahun lalu, aktiviti penggabungan dan pengambilalihan di dalam sektor minyak dan gas bernilai RM1.072 trilion, dengan syarikat-syarikat dari Asia menguasai sehingga 19.6 peratus daripada nilai aktiviti tersebut.
Penguasaan itu telah meningkat daripada 7.6 peratus pada 2003.
Menurut penganalisis, kemampuan untuk membeli syarikat asing tidak menjadi satu masalah kepada syarikat-syarikat dari Asia, memandangkan mereka mendapat perlindungan penuh daripada kerajaan masing-masing.
Petronas tahun lalu telah membayar RM15 bilion untuk mendapatkan syarikat minyak dari Kanada, Progress Energy Resources Corp. Sementara CNPC pula, bulan lalu telah bersetuju membeli aktiviti minyak dan gas di Mozambique membabitkan nilai RM13.02 bilion.
PETALING JAYA: SapuraKencana Petroleum Bhd (SKPB) is on track to raise RM1.64bil from a placement agreement with CIMB Investment Bank Bhd, Maybank Investment Bank Bhd and CIMB Securities (Si) Pte Ltd for a proposed placement of 587 million new SKPB shares at an issue price of RM2.80 per share to selected investors.
“The placement price was arrived at after taking into consideration the five-day, volume-weighted average market price of SKPB shares up to and including April 2 being the price-fixing date for the proposed placement of RM3.04,” the company said in a note to the stock exchange.
The company will release more details on the exercise in due course, which some analysts have deemed as “positive” for the stock should it go through as planned.
The proceeds would be used within a month to part satisfy the initial Seadrill Tender Rig Ltd (STRL) price of RM780.9mil on the STRL closing, and part satisfy the initial STRL price on the STRL closing in place of the portion that had been envisaged earlier to be satisfied by the issuance of three-year redeemable exchangeable preference shares or REPS to the tune of RM743.3mil.
The rest RM119.4mil meanwhile, would go towards defraying the expenses related to the proposed transaction and proposed placement.
SKPB also mentioned that it had submitted an application on the proposed exercise to the Foreign Exchange Administration of Bank Negara.
To recap, SKPB had late last year entered into a non-binding agreement to acquire Seadrill Ltd's tender rig business in a multi-billion-ringgit deal to be satisfied by a mix of shares and cash, a move that would see the former becoming a leading global player in the tender rigs and semi-tender rigs market.
In a recent research note to its clients, Maybank Investment Bank Research (MIBR) rated SPKB a “buy”, with a target price of RM4.10 on expectations of an upgrade in the near future.
“Consensus forecasts are conservative, in our view, for they do not fully reflect the impact from the STRL acquisition, which would add at least RM700mil per annum to earnings,” MIBR pointed out in the report, adding that “this Seadrill business, which has an enterprise value of US$2.83bil (RM8.72bil), would elevate SKPB's order backlog by 34% (+US$1.5bil (RM4.63bil)) to US$5.9bil (RM18.2bil) once the acquisition is concluded.”
(Reuters) - Exxon Mobil (XOM.N) and BHP Billiton (BHP.AX) are planning to build the world's largest floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) processing and export plant off the northwestern shore of Australia, despite growing concerns about the cost competitiveness of the country's LNG projects.
At around half a kilometer (0.3 miles) long, the vessel would be nearly as long as five football fields laid end-to-end and would be the largest floating facility in the world.
The plant would bump up Australia's current LNG production by nearly 30 percent, producing 6 million to 7 million metric tons (6.62 million to 7.71 million tons) per annum (mtpa), enough to fuel the LNG needs of Japan, the world's largest importer of the gas, for about a month.
Exxon and BHP's decision to develop the Scarborough field using floating LNG is another vote of confidence in the as yet untried technology, which energy companies hope will help cut down on the ballooning costs of developing gas.
Exxon, which detailed the plan in a filing with Australia's environment department on Tuesday, did not give a cost estimate for the plant.
Australia currently has $190 billion worth of LNG projects under way and is on track to replace Qatar as the world's largest LNG exporter by the end of the decade.
But the country has been plagued by cost inflation, and of seven LNG plants under construction there that are due to come online in 2014 or later, four have already announced cost blowouts ranging from 15 to 40 percent.
FITCH BEARISH
High costs and competition from other LNG producing regions such as North America and East Africa have led some industry analysts to predict that Australia's growth potential as an LNG producer is increasingly limited.
Fitch Ratings was the latest to forecast lower growth for the Australian LNG sector, saying in a report on Tuesday that increased costs had eroded the country's competitive advantage.
Royal Dutch Shell (RDSa.L), considered the industry leader in floating LNG, has touted floating technology as a way to circumvent Australia's rising costs and cut down on construction time.
"Floating (LNG) is actually very good for the federal government in terms of getting the tax revenues out faster and quicker," Ann Pickard, Shell's country chairman in Australia, said earlier this year.
An added advantage of floating LNG vessels is that they can be redeployed to another location once a gas field is depleted.
The Scarborough LNG plant would start production in 2020-2021 and be moored 220 kilometers (137 miles) from the Australian coast, Exxon said in the government filing.
If the Scarborough gas field were developed using floating LNG, the plant would be about double the capacity of Shell's Prelude LNG, also off the cost of Australia, which will have a capacity of 3.6 mtpa when it comes online in 2017 and be the world's first floating LNG plant.
Shell indicated that its Prelude LNG project was expected to cost in the range of $10.8 to $12.6 billion. With a similar cost structure, Scarborough LNG would cost $18 billion to $24.5 billion, according to Reuters' calculations.
The Scarborough floating LNG plant would be built offshore, likely in South Korea, which is already in talks to build similar facilities.
Exxon and BHP, which are 50-50 joint venture partners in the Scarborough development, expect to make a final investment decision on the plant in 2014-2015, Exxon said.
(Editing by Muralikumar Anantharaman)
TH Heavy Engineering Bhd (THHE) has won a contract from Murphy Sarawak Oil Co Ltd worth approximately RM196mil to build the topsides for platforms offshore Bintulu.
In a filing to Bursa Malaysia on Tuesday, the company said it received a letter of award for the engineering, procurement, construction and commissioning (EPCC) for Permas Production (PR-PA) topsides at Murphy Sarawak Oil's SK311 Permas development contract.
The EPCC contract will be undertaken by THHE's subsidiary, THHE Fabricators Sdn Bhd. The platform is approximately 95km offshore Bintulu, Sarawak.
The contract is a one-off contract and is scheduled to be complete within approximately 16 months, it said.
“The contract is expect to contribute positively to the earnings and net assets per share of THHE for the financial year ending Dec 31, 2013 and 2014 respectively,” THHE said.
The company said the risks pertaining to the contract include the availability of skilled manpower and materials, changes in prices of materials, and changes in political, economic and regulatory conditions.
