OREANDA-NEWS. January 29, 2014. Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company k.s.c. (KUFPEC), a subsidiary of Kuwait Petroleum Corporation (KPC), today announced that its subsidiary, KUFPEC Australia (Wheatstone Iago) Pty Ltd., has signed a Sale and Purchase Agreement to acquire Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd’s 8% equity interest in the Wheatstone-Iago Joint Venture and Shell’s 6.4% interest in the Wheatstone LNG Project for USD 1.135 billion.

This acquisition consolidates KUFPEC’s existing 7% ownership of the Wheatstone LNG Project and its 35% ownership of the associated Julimar-Brunello Joint Venture, and further grows KUFPEC’s assets in the attractive oil and gas sector in Australia. 

The transaction is subject to a number of conditions, including Foreign Investment Review Board approval by the Commonwealth Government of Australia and also joint venture approvals.

Through the acquisition, KUFPEC will add 139 million barrels of oil equivalent to its resource base, thereby meeting its strategic reserves target for the next four years.  Average production net to KUFPEC will reach an anticipated 18,350 barrels of oil equivalent per day by 2018, with first LNG production commencing in late 2016.  Importantly, KUFPEC can in the future supply the LNG directly to KPC on commercial terms.

Commenting on the transaction, KUFPEC’s Chief Executive Officer, Sh. Nawaf S. Al-Sabah, stated that “KUFPEC is delivering on its strategic goals of bringing value to the Kuwait oil sector through increased production that has a strategic tie-in with KPC, along with technology transfer and training opportunities to develop Kuwaiti manpower.”  He further stated that “the production and cash flows from the acquisition will provide stable revenue to KUFPEC for a quarter century.”

The Wheatstone-Iago Joint Venture comprises the Wheatstone and Iago gas fields, located offshore Western Australia.  The Wheatstone LNG Project, which is operated by Chevron, is one of Australia’s largest resource projects and is currently being constructed.  The gas produced by the Wheatstone-Iago Joint Venture will be commercialized via the Wheatstone LNG Project.
KUFPEC is an international oil company engaged in the exploration, development and production of crude oil and natural gas outside the State of Kuwait.  It is currently active in 14 countries with 60 projects in the international upstream sector.  Also, KUFPEC is currently working towards achieving its strategy plans aiming to increase its production to 200,000 BOEPD with reserves of 650 MMBOE by year 2020.