Sebab Sebenar Kenaikan Harga Minyak - Pelaburan $7.7 Bilions Malaysia-Australia

Pada Khamis lepas, 29 Mei 2008, Syarikat Pengeluar Minyak & Gas Ketiga Terbesar Australia, Santos Ltd., telah memilih Petronas Malaysia sebagai pemenang bida untuk menjalankan projek usahasama (joint venture) dalam pelaburan terbesar pernah dibuat di Australia untuk mencarigali sumber gas asli cair (LNG) melalui pembinaan dua plantar minyak di Australia.

Dalam perjanjian tersebut, Australia & Petronas Malaysia akan mengeluarkan sejumlah besar pelaburan untuk membina saluran paip gas sepanjang 450 kilimeter dan pelantar minyak berharga 6.3 bilions ringgit australia di Gladston, Queensland yang dijangka akan mengeluarkan hasil gas cecair asli sebanyak 3 juta tons setahun bila dapat beroperasi pada tahun 2014.

Petronas melalui Kerajaan Malaysia telah membayar secara tunai sebanyak USD 2.008 billions kepada Santos Ltd. untuk membeli 40% sahamnya iaitu sebanyak 1/3 dari equiti saham firma tersebut. Baki sebanyak USD 500.00 millions akan dijeklaskan apabila projek ini mencapai fasa kedua.Laporan penuh disiarkan oleh Reuters & The Australian Bussiness seperti 2 artikel berikut

Reuters
By Fayen Wong

PERTH (Reuters) - Malaysian state oil company Petronas PETR.UL will buy a 40 percent stake in Australian energy firm Santos Ltd's (STO.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) Gladstone liquefied natural gas project for up to $2.51 billion, to bolster its position as Asia's largest LNG producer as competition hots up.

State-owned Petronas' investment in the project, which plans to use coal seam gas as feedstock, follows a $12 billion takeover bid by Britain's BG Group Plc (BG.L: Quote, Profile, Research) for Australia's Origin Energy Ltd (ORG.AX: Quote, Profile, Research) last month, and is seen as a vote of confidence for Asia's young coal seam gas industry.

Santos shares jumped 15 percent to a record high of A$21.75, before easing to A$21.06, up 11 percent.

"As for Santos, on first glance it looks like they've got an excellent deal," said Aiden Bradley, an oil and gas analyst at ABN AMRO in Sydney.

"For Petronas, their LNG production in Malaysia is not growing so this is part of their strategy to diversify in Asia."

The deal marries Santos's reserves with the marketing power of Petronas, the third-largest LNG producer in the world. The acquisition is Petronas' first investment in coal seam gas, and its first foray in Australia.

Petronas will make an initial cash investment of $2.01 billion, and a further $500 million on reaching a final investment decision for a second LNG train at the Gladstone project, located in Australia's Queensland state, Santos said in a statement.

With oil prices rising and buyers looking for cleaner-burning fuel, global LNG demand is forecast to rise to nearly 400 million tonnes per annum (mpta) in 2020, up from 172 mpta in 2007. Asian demand, which accounts for two-thirds of global LNG consumption, could grow to just above 200 mpta in 2020.

Under the agreement, Santos and Petronas will form a joint venture company to develop and operate a 450-kilometre gas pipeline and an LNG plant at Gladstone. The $6.3 billion plant will have an initial capacity of 3 million tonnes a year and is expected to begin operations in 2014..

The transaction sells a third of Santos' proven plus probable (2P) coal seam gas reserves and less than 11 percent of Santos' total proved and probable oil and gas reserves, Santos said.Petronas' investment would value its share of Santos' 2P reserves at A$4.91 per gigajoule (GJ), or A$1.65 per GJ if using the largest estimate of the coal seam gas reserves, Santos said.

The race to build coal seam gas-fuelled LNG plants on Australia's east coast has stepped up after BG's proposed takeover of Origin, which holds the largest coal seam gas resources in Queensland state.Santos, which also has a stake in a proposed Exxon Mobil-led LNG project in Papua New Guinea and a share in an operating LNG plant in northern Australia, has been seeking to expand its LNG business in a bid to gain from rising prices and a forecast surge in global demand.

"Petronas is the ideal partner to help develop Santos' coal seam gas to LNG strategy and their investment significantly advances the project," Santos Chairman Stephen Gerlach said in a statement.

ASIA'S LARGEST LNG PRODUCER

Petronas operates the 23-million-tonne-a-year Bintulu LNG complex in Malaysia's Sarawak state. It is also a partner in a LNG project in Egypt and in the Dragon LNG Project in Wales.Santos said the Gladstone LNG project, which has begun early engineering studies, was on track to enter the engineering design phase in late 2008 and reach a final investment decision by early 2010, with first LNG output target in 2014.

Santos said the deal was subject to approval by Australia's Foreign Investment Review Board and other usual regulatory approvals.

($1=A$1.04)

(Editing by Kim Coghill)

Malaysia's Petronas fuels Santos LNG dream

Matt Chambers - The Australian Bussiness May 30, 2008

MALAYSIAN government-owned oil and gas group Petronas yesterday unveiled that country's biggest ever investment in Australia, picking up 40 per cent of Santos's Gladstone liquefied natural gas project in a $US2.5 billion ($2.6 billion) deal that boosts the chances of two big LNG plants being built in the town.

The sale, at a price that threatens to put upward pressure on Australian east coast domestic gas prices, sent Santos shares soaring 11 per cent to a record $21.08 as the Adelaide company secured an unexpectedly high valuation on its Queensland coal seam gas reserves and brought on board the world's third-biggest LNG producer.

An initial instalment payment of $US2 billion also makes it easier for Santos to fund its share of the project's first stage, which is slated to cost a total of $7.7 billion. Wan Zulkiflee, left, David Knox and Anna Bligh hold a media conference to tell of the LNG deal. Picture: David SprouleThe share price move added $1.25 billion to Santos's market value as investors continued to pile in to the new LNG industry rapidly forming in the region to supply liquefied coal seam gas to Asia.

Santos has been courting international LNG majors to take a stake in the project for the past four months and is thought to have had up to 10 interested parties. Global LNG demand is forecast to triple by 2030 and BG Group and Queensland Gas plan a similar-sized project. Two other groups plan smaller LNG plants at Gladstone.

With two global LNG operators now working on rival projects at Gladstone, there is a greater chance that more than one project will get up, and Santos acting chief executive David Knox did not shut the door on combining the projects.

"At some stage I would anticipate there will be a discussion about development between us and other parties, if they actually get (their projects) up," Mr Knox told reporters. Petronas, which owns the world's largest LNG shipping fleet, agreed to pay $US2.01 billion up-front for the stake in the project and 538 petajoules, or a third, of Santos's proven and probable coal seam gas reserves.

It will hand over another $US500 million if a second train, or liquefaction unit, is approved. Mr Knox said he is aiming to approve the second train in 2014, around the time the first 3 million tonne-a-year unit starts up. Santos said the deal translated to $4.91 a gigajoule for its proven and probable, or 2P, reserves. One analyst at a major broking house not involved in the deal said this compared with $2.90 a gigajoule for BG's initial bid for Origin and $2.40 paid by BG for its stake in Queensland Gas.

"It's a big step up in the implied multiple using 2P reserves and Santos has got the best deal by far" of recent coal seam gas agreements, the analyst said. "Not only can Petronas build it, they can market it" well in Asia.

However, when the deals are compared with 3P reserves, which imply lower confidence, the Santos and Origin deals were much closer, according to research by other brokers. Mr Knox said east coast gas prices would be driven by local demand, which would probably rise if carbon emission regulations made coal-fired power more expensive.

But supply was also likely to be an issue, analysts said, with domestic prices likely to climb as Asian LNG demand provided competition for domestic resources. Santos says it is confident of getting Foreign Investment Review Board approval because Petronas is investing in a project, not a company.