Petsec to sell Chinese interests
Australian oil and gas company Petsec Energy is set to sell its Chinese oil assets to Horizon Oil Ltd.
Petsec has set up the deal, worth $A38m ($40.2m), with Sydney-based Horizon to finance its US petroleum operations - in particular investment in shale oil exploration.
The sale will involve all of Petsec's interests in five Chinese development areas, estimated to hold 10.6m barrels of oil off the coast of the Beibu Gulf near Hainan Island. Horizon will take 100 ownership of Petsec Petroleum LLC which holds the interests.
While Petsec expands its US operations, including re-siting its traditional Gulf of Mexico oil and gas operations to the Gulf Coast, Horizon will take the opportunity to extend its existing presence in China along with its other operations in Papua New Guinea and New Zealand.
In a separate announcement, Horizon suggested it was considering floating on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange as a result of the Petsec acquistition, as well as offering an A$75m ($80m) convertible bond to finance the cash-only deal.
