Woodside Petroleum Ltd
(ASX:WPL) is reportedly considering making a $15 billion takeover bid for Santos Ltd
(ASX:STO).
The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Woodside is rumoured to be contemplating making an offer to Santos in order to increase its presence in Queensland’s gas export industry.
While Woodside is one of the biggest industry players in Western Australia, it has no significant position in Queensland.
Santos, on the other hand, has major coal-seam gas assets in the state, which are intended to underpin its Gladstone LNG project.
Woodside was valued at $36.9 billion in market capitalization at the close of the share market yesterday, while Santos was worth $11.9 billion.
The news follows yesterday’s signing in China of Australia’s biggest export deal between BG Group and China National Offshore Oil Corp, involving the sale of $60 billion worth of gas from a Queensland project.
For the 2009 calendar year, Woodside Petroleum reported a profit of $1.824 billion.
