Gas major BG gives up on Origin
After giving up its fight to acquire a majority stake in Origin Energy, BG Group of Britain holds only slightly more than one share of the Australian oil and gas firm, Asia Business News reported.
BG wanted to take over Origin to acquire its expansive coal-bed methane gas reserves in the state of Queensland. BG offered $15.50 a share but was repeatedly rejected before throwing in the towel.
Origin's shares recently jumped after the company announced a new joint venture with U.S.-based ConocoPhillips.
According to ABN, an analyst at Merrill Lynch said that after Origin's shares surged, BG Group would need to double its $13.8 billion takeover bid to get Origin's attention.
Instead, BG Group sold its 0.15 percent stake in Origin and decided to move on to something else, such as mulling a takeover of either Queensland Gas or Santos, both Australian energy firms. BG Group already holds a 9.9-percent stake in Queensland Gas, whose stock increased after BG mentioned its name.
Analysts are saying that LNG and coal-bed methane are providing big investment opportunities right now, but competing projects could pose a potential threat to investments.
Iran will take field bids
According to Tehran Times, the Iranian Central Oil Fields Co. will hold an international tender for the development of 14 oil and gas fields.
"It is estimated that the tender will attract about $5 billion for the development of these 14 oil and gas fields," said Mahmud Borzu, ICOFC manager of engineering and construction department.
Borzu told the Tehran Times that the National Iranian Oil Co.'s board of directors had granted its permission for ICOFC to accept bids for the land.
The 14 fields up for lease are estimated to be capable of producing up to 120,000 barrels of oil and 67 million cubic meters of gas daily.
U.S.-led sanctions have hurt Iran's oil and gas production, and the country is seeking new international investors to give it a boost.
NASA estimates carbon scenarios
As scientists estimate the world's approach toward peak oil, U.S. researchers led by NASA have come up with some scenarios under which the world would not reach critical carbon dioxide emissions levels, ScienceDaily reported.
Burning fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas has accounted for about 80 percent of the increase of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But now some scientists think that even if the planet does nothing to reduce emissions and they continue to grow 2 percent annually, they will begin to fall 2 percent annually after all the oil reserves have been exhausted.
Doing nothing, however, would push carbon levels over the acceptable limit, proving for some that efforts to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions are not in vain.
The second scenario researchers came up with phases out coal burning by 2050, and the reduction was still not enough to decrease emissions before fossil fuels run out.
But three other scenarios include phasing out coal in addition to peak oil, and in those cases, carbon dioxide levels fell below the prescribed cap of 450 parts per million by about 2080.
--
Closing oil prices, Sept. 11, 3 p.m. London
Brent crude oil: $100.60
West Texas Intermediate crude oil: $103.51
--
(e-mail: [email protected])
