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Wednesday, September 9, 2015

CORRECTED-Australia's Woodside courts Oil Search with $8 billion takeover proposal, (NYSE: TOT)

Woodside Petroleum Ltd , Australia's biggest independent oil and gas producer, has approached rival Oil Search Ltd with an $8 billion all-share takeover plan that would give it stakes in two of the world's lowest-cost LNG projects.In what would be a record deal for Australia's energy sector, Woodside would gain a 29 percent stake in Oil Search's PNG Liquefied Natural Gas project, coveted as a one of the few expandable LNG projects that will be viable in a world of weak oil prices.ExxonMobil Corp, operator of PNG LNG, France's Total SA and Asian state oil companies like Malaysia's Petronas could emerge with rival bids, although Woodside had already started talks with key shareholders, analysts said."It makes sense for Woodside - a company that's ex-growth that's looking for the next leg," said Ric Ronge, a portfolio manager at Pengana Capital, which owns stakes in Woodside and Oil Search.

Total S.A. is an energy operator. The Company operates through three business segments: an Upstream segment, including alongside the activities of the exploration and production of hydrocarbons, the activities of gas and power; a Refining & Chemicals segment constituting an industrial hub comprising the activities of refining, petrochemicals and specialty chemicals and also includes the activities of oil trading and shipping; a Marketing & Services segment, including the global activities of supply and marketing in the field of petroleum products, as well as the activity of new energies, and a Corporate segment, which includes holdings operating and financial activities. Shares of TOT traded higher by 2.58% or $1.14/share to $45.25. In the past year, the shares have traded as low as $40.93 and as high as $65.42. On average, 2081450 shares of TOT exchange hands on a given day and today's volume is recorded at 3017677.



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