Australia's largest oil and gas producer, Woodside Petroleum, has made an A$11.6bn (US$8.1bn) bid for all shares of Oil Search, the main oil and gas E&P company in neighbouring Papua New Guinea. Woodside offers one of its own share for four Oil Search Share and the offer represents a 13% premium on Oil Search's pre-bid price (market capitalisation of A$10.24bn before the offer).
Oil Search's main shareholders are JP Morgan (24.8%), HSBC (16.71%) and National Nominees Ltd (23.7%). The company is involved in the exploration and production activities on all the country's oil and gas fields in production: Kutubu, Moran, Gobe, Hides and SE Mananda. The group also owns a 29% stake in the 6.9 Mt/year PNG LNG gas liquefaction plant commissioned in 2014.
The proposal is subject to Papua New Guinea regulatory approval, completing satisfactory due diligence and other customary conditions.