Origin Energy Ltd. and ConocoPhillips (NYSE: COP) are in talks with investment banks including Macquarie Group Ltd. on the potential sale of a pipeline to their natural gas export project, according to people with knowledge of the matter, Bloomberg reported Feb. 20.
Their joint venture has shortlisted several investment banks to conduct a study on a sale of the pipeline that connects inland gas fields to the A$24.7 billion (US$19.3 billion) LNG plant in Queensland state, said the people, asking not to be identified as the details are private. An adviser may be appointed within weeks, one of the people said. Macquarie and Origin declined to comment.
A potential sale of the Australia Pacific LNG pipeline would follow BG Group Plc’s deal in December to sell the pipeline supplying its LNG project for about $5 billion. Santos today named Goldman Sachs Group Inc. as an adviser to help sell the pipeline at its Gladstone LNG venture.
“We’re out there seeking ideas,” Origin Managing Director Grant King said Feb. 19 in a phone interview. “APLNG is running that process on behalf of the shareholders, clearly with the shareholder support, and I’m fully aware that that process is running.”
Origin and Santos are building LNG plants on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, next to BG’s project, which started late last year. The three ventures, estimated to cost about $60 billion, will put the nation on course to become the world’s largest supplier.
Origin, Australia’s largest electricity and gas retailer, is preparing to start the LNG plant later this year, the Sydney-based company said Feb. 19.