Santos gets $1.4B offer for PNG LNG stake from Papua’s state oil company (OTCMKTS:STOSF)

Santos (OTCPK:STOSF) said it received a binding conditional offer from Kumul Petroleum Holdings, Papua New Guinea’s national oil and gas company, to buy a 5% interest in the PNG LNG liquefied natural gas project for US$1.4B plus ~$300M in project finance debt.

Santos (OTCPK:STOSF) said Kumul paid $55M to be held in escrow to secure the offer, which will remain open for acceptance until December 31 and is conditional on Kumul obtaining waivers on some pre-emptive rights by other PNG LNG project partners.

With the sale of a 5% stake, Santos (OTCPK:STOSF) would own 37.5% of the project, still ahead of operator Exxon Mobil (NYSE:XOM) with 33.2%, while Kumul Petroleum would own 21.8%, with the remaining shared between Japan’s JX Holdings and Papua New Guinea’s state-owned Mineral Resources Development Co.

Santos (OTCPK:STOSF) became the largest shareholder in PNG LNG, Papua New Guinea’s largest resource project, with its takeover of Oil Search Ltd. last year.