01-31-2014, 04:35 AM
'Relker' pid='36820' datel Wrote:The development forum is extremely important. Not everybody understood why Total wants to take the final decision to proceed in 2015/2016. Also it is not clear which role the PNG government will play in the project. According to the Project Agreement they can acquire upto 50% of the ownership in the JVOA partly against commercial terms. May be IOC would prefer that PNG becomes a 20% shareholder of IOC instead of above ownership in the JVOA. This would give more stability to the shareprice and would give more assurance to the other shareholders who opt for the long run. Statoil in Norway is a good example. A good move has been the office removal to PM. This can be seen as a token to the PNG government that IOC is strongly linked to PNG.
Why you would think that old 50% offer from years ago would be worth bringing up now that IOC has a deal for Total to acquire 47.5% net of PRL 15 is beyond me. It actually is clear what role PNG is likely to play in the project. They almost certainly will exercise their option to acquire 22.5% at cost. However, there is absolutely no reason whatsoever to think they have any interest or capability to acquire any further ownership in the project or any ownership in IOC stock, or any reason to think that IOC would be pushing the latter. Also, PNG already has their hands full dealing with their externally financed interests in PNG LNG and OSH.