Australian LNG player Santos said it had agreed to extend the exclusivity period for the previously announced PNG LNG deal with Papua New Guinea’s national oil and gas company Kumul Petroleum.
In September, Santos received a binding offer from Kumul to buy a 5 percent stake in the PNG LNG project.
The deal has an asset value of $1.4 billion, including a proportionate share of project finance debt of about $0.3 billion.
Santos said at the time the offer would remain open for acceptance until December 31, 2022.
However, in a statement on Friday Santos said that Kumul had advised the firm it had now extended the period in which the offer would remain open until April 30, 2023.
“Santos has agreed to deal exclusively with Kumul during this period regarding the sale of equity in PNG LNG,” it said.
According to a report by Reuters, Kumul in talks with Australia’s export credit agency to help fund the acquisition of the project.
Santos currently has a 42.5 percent stake in the 6.9 mtpa LNG export plant in Caution Bay following the Oil Search merger while Kumul has a 16.8 percent stake.
ExxonMobil holds a 33.2 percent operating interest in PNG LNG.
