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XOM, RDS & TOT understood to be the bidders for IOC's Project
InterOil CEO retirement seen speeding Gulf LNG partner deal: analysts
Sydney (Platts)--24Apr2013/326 am EDT/726 GMT
"The sudden retirement of InterOil CEO Phil Mulacek is expected to accelerate the company's securing of a major joint venture partner for its Gulf LNG project in Papua New Guinea, analysts said Wednesday... Earlier this month InterOil said confidential negotiations with more than one bidder were ongoing. The interested parties are understood to be ExxonMobil, Shell and France's Total. "We have made it clear in the past that there are at least two major oil companies involved in this process, and that was a true statement and remains true," InterOil Vice President Capital Markets Wayne Andrews said April 15, according to a transcript of an investor briefing. "This process is moving forward as planned. "Now the PNG government is involved in the negotiations, and that should help us move forward and achieve FID [final investment decision]. These negotiations are complex and of such fundamental importance to InterOil and our future, that it is appropriate to conclude these in a methodical and thorough manner, and that is exactly what we are doing," Andrews added. There are obvious synergies for ExxonMobil in securing a stake in InterOil's gas resources as the US major is currently constructing the $19 billion PNG LNG project near Port Moresby. The PNG LNG foundation project will comprise two trains with capacity to produce 6.9 million mt/year, but ExxonMobil is looking for additional gas to feed a third and possibly fourth train at the site