PTTEP snares Coogee for $170m

Thailand’s state oil company PTT Exploration & Production has signed a deal to buy 100% interest in Australian oil producer Coogee Resources.

Perth-based Coogee currently operates the Jabiru and Challis offshore oilfields with a 70.94% stake, which together with its key development asset, the 100% owned Montara project, provides PTTEP with estimated proved oil reserves of 32 million barrels, plus proved and probable oil reserves of 45 million barrels, the Thai company said. PTTEP will also gain significant contingent resources from Coogee’s working interests in production and exploration licences, including AC/L7, AC/RL7, AC/P34, AC/P32 and AC/P40, the outfit said in a statement yesterday. Coogee’s gross output in the first six months this year was about 450 barrels per day of oil. The Thai company added that the investment upside includes an attractive opportunity to buy high quality development appraisal and exploration assets in the Bonaparte basin, plus potential monetisation of significant stranded gas resources via floating liquefied natural gas technology. PTTEP said it estimated Coogee's enterprise value per barrel of oil equivalent of proved reserves at about $12.90 per barrel and expected an upside potential of probable reserves of oil and natural gas for development in the future. The purchase, which is expected to be completed during the first quarter next year, will be funded by existing cash balances and cash flow from operations. PTTEP, which already has two exploration projects in Australia, has invested in 40 oil and gas exploration and development projects in 14 countries in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. More than 20 projects are under development overseas, although domestic fields account for 70 percent of total output. PTTEP intends to maintain Coogee's existing managment team and employees.
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