LNG

May 8 (LNGJ) - Trafigura Group, a market leader in the global commodities industry including LNG, petroleum and other products, has expanded its proposed acquisition of biofuels firm Greenergy from Brookfield Asset Management to include Greenergy’s Canadian supply operations as well as those in Europe.

   Trafigura said the acquisitions are subject to customary closing conditions and regulatory approvals. Greenergy is one of Europe’s largest suppliers of biofuels with manufacturing plants in the UK and the Netherlands and is a leading distributor of road fuels in the UK. Greenergy entered the Canadian market in 2013 and supplies commercial and wholesale customers in Ontario and British Columbia.

Australia's Origin Energy, whose shareholders in December 2023 rejected a takeover by North American private equity firms, reported solid quarterly revenues from Australia-Pacific LNG in Queensland as domestic electricity and gas sales also rose in power markets.

Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), the world’s largest oil production group, has signed definitive agreements to acquire a strategic minority stake in MidOcean Energy for $500 million and thus enter the liquefied natural gas sector initially in Australia.

Australia is considering extending the life of the country’s largest coal-fired power plant located in the state of New South Wales and owned by Australia-Pacific LNG stakeholder Origin Energy because of concerns over energy security.

Origin Energy, the Australian upstream supplier to the Australia-Pacific LNG export plant in Queensland facing a A$18.4 billion (US$12.3 billion) buyout offer from a two-firm consortium led by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management, said the due diligence on the deal was largely completed.

Origin said in a statement to the Australian Securities Exchange that it was continuing its “active engagement” with Brookfield and consortium partner MidOcean Energy, an LNG company formed and managed by US-based energy investor EIG.

“Origin advises that the Consortium has substantially completed due diligence and active engagement continues on a non-exclusive basis in relation to the submission of a binding proposal,” said Origin.

The Sydney-based company noted that any binding proposal would be subject to a number of conditions, including approval by Australian regulators.

“At this stage, shareholders do not need to take any action and Origin will continue to keep shareholders updated in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations,” said the company.

Origin’s business comprises Integrated Gas with its feed-gas sales to Australia-Pacific LNG and a utilities and domestic power markets unit, the Energy Markets division.

This is made up of retail and wholesale electricity sales and natural gas supplies to the states of Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

Targeted

The bid for Origin from Brookfield comes after its offer in 2022 to buy Australia's leading utility, AGL Energy, was rejected.

The Origin buy-out proposal was made through the Brookfield Global Transition Fund, which is co-run by Mark Carney, the former Governor of the Bank of England.

Under the proposal to acquire Origin, Brookfield would take over the company’s Energy Markets business, while MidOcean Energy, in the form of EIG, would take control of Origin's Integrated Gas business, including its 27.5 percent stake in APLNG.

The APLNG plant stake that would go to EIG’s MidOcean under the Origin buy-out is a supplier to China and one of its shareholders is China Petroleum & Chemical Corp, known as Sinopec.

Origin is the main upstream operator for coal-seam gas supply to the facility while US major ConocoPhillips is the plant operator.

APLNG came on stream in 2016 and has two liquefaction Trains with total nameplate capacity of around 9 million tonnes per annum with about 7 MTPA going to China.

The plant sits alongside two other CSG-to-LNG facilities on Curtis Island, the Shell-run Queensland Curtis LNG plant and the Gladstone plant, operated by Santos.

Origin Energy, the Australian upstream supplier to the Australia-Pacific LNG export plant in Queensland, said the project provided a 40 percent increase in revenues with Origin’s share amounting to A$876 million (US$620M) during the last quarter.

Origin Energy, the Australian upstream supplier to the Australia-Pacific LNG export plant in Queensland, saw its shares up 35 percent higher on November 14 as investors considered Origin’s backing for an A$18.4 billion (US$12.3 billion) buyout offer from a two-firm consortium led by Canada's Brookfield Asset Management.

March 8 (LNGJ) - AGL Energy, the Australian utility whose plans for an LNG import terminal in the state of Victoria were thwarted by regulators, has rejected an unsolicited improved bid from Brookfield Asset Management of Canada and one of Australia’s wealthiest individuals.

   The latest offer from Brookfield and Australian billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes is to seek to acquire AGL for $8.25 per share, up from $7.50 per share last month which had valued the company at A$4.93 billion (US$3.54Bln). “The revised unsolicited proposal continues to ignore the opportunity that AGL Energy shareholders have through our proposed demerger to realise potential future value,” said AGL Chairman Peter Botten.

AGL Energy, the Australian utility whose plans for an LNG import terminal in the state of Victoria were thwarted by regulators, has rejected an unsolicited joint bid of over US$3.5 billion from Brookfield Asset Management of Canada and one of Australia’s wealthiest individuals.

Dominion Energy, the US utility and former operator of the Cove Point LNG export plant in Maryland, has agreed to terminate the planned sale of Questar Pipelines to the Warren Buffet company Berkshire Hathaway Energy.