Woodside gets regulatory OK on Apache asset deal

OREANDA-NEWS. The \$2.75bn acquisition by Australian independent Woodside Petroleum of upstream assets in Australia and Canada from US independent Apache has received approval from the Australian anti-competition regulator.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will not oppose Woodside's proposed acquisition of Apache's interests in the Chevron-operated 8.9mn t/yr Wheatstone LNG project and the Balnaves oil project, which are both located offshore Western Australia (WA) and the Kitimat LNG project in British Columbia on the west coast of Canada.

Woodside and Apache overlap in the wholesale supply of natural gas to the WA domestic. Woodside supplies domestic gas market through its 16.66pc stake in the North West Shelf LNG project. Apache is retaining its interests in the Reindeer and Macedon gas fields offshore WA and the onshore Devils Creek and Varanus island gas processing plants.

"Apache will continue to supply gas to the market through its interests in the Macedon, Varanus Island and Devil Creek Projects. As a result, Apache will remain a larger supplier of domestic gas in WA than Woodside following the proposed acquisition," ACCC chairman Rod Sims said.

Apache's 13pc interest in domestic gas produced by the Wheatstone LNG project will represent only a small fraction of the total gas to be supplied to WA, when it comes on line in around 2018, the ACCC said. "The acquisition will not change the structure of the market in a material way, with Woodside's share of the total market changing by less than 5pc," Sims said.