LNG

Chinese company China Energy Reserve and Chemical Group (CERCG) said it would push ahead with its plans to transport Australian LNG from the West Coast to the East Coast even as its bid for local exploration and production company AWE was likely to be rejected in favour of a higher offer.

Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co. has entered the bidding battle for Australian natural gas exploration and production company AWE with an offer that trumps two other bids from China and Australia and raises the value of Australian natural gas where the domestic market is competing with LNG for the resource base.

Australia’s Mineral Resources Ltd said it entered into a binding agreement to acquire oil and gas company AWE for over US$400 million to trump a takeover bid by Chinese company China Energy Reserve and Chemical Group (CERCG), which had LNG plans for the target’s Western Australia natural gas assets.

Australian Energy company AWE, a stakeholder in the largest onshore natural gas discovery in Western Australia for 40 years, has become the subject of a takeover battle between a Chinese state-owned company and an Australian mining business, Mineral Resources, amid plans for gas to be shipped as LNG from western to eastern Australia.

Australian Energy company AWE, a substantial stakeholder in the largest onshore natural gas discovery in Western Australia for 40 years, was awaiting the next moves following a US$325 million takeover offer from a state-owned energy company in China.