Japan said on December 1, it has reached a joint oil
storage deal with state-run Kuwait Petroleum Corp (KPC) to lend it
3.14 million barrels (500,000 kilolitres) of
capacity for free.
Under the deal, KPC can use storage tanks at refiner Eneos'
Kiire base in southern Japan of Kagoshima as an export base for eastern
Asia.
In return, Japan gets a priority claim on the stockpiles in case of emergency.
The volume is equivalent to 1.5 days of its consumption.
It is Japan's third such agreement, following UAE's Abu
Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and Saudi Arabia's
Saudi Aramco, and is aimed at reinforcing its
energy security, an official at the Japan's Economy, Trade and Industry Ministry
(METI) said.
The latest deal will boost Japan's leased oil storage capacity to a total of
19.5 million barrels (3.1 million kl).
UAE
8.17百万バレル
130万kl
Aramco
8.17百万バレル
130万kl
KPC
3.14百万バレル
50万kl
合計
19.5
百万バレル
310万kl
The supply from KPC can be also used in other
Asian countries, mainly ASEAN nations, in case of emergency, the official said.
In March, Tokyo mapped out a new international resource strategy under which it
aims to expand oil stockpiling scheme which benefits Japan, other Asian
countries and oil suppliers.
Kuwait was Japan's fourth-largest oil supplier in 2019 after Saudi Arabia, the
UAE and Qatar, providing 8.5% of Japan's oil import, the ministry's official
said.
The Jafurah unconventional gas field,
also known as the Al Jafurah gas field, lies southeast of the Ghawar oil
field, the world’s biggest conventional onshore oil field, in the Eastern
province of Saudi Arabia.
The Jafurah field measures 170km-long and
100km-wide and is reportedly similar in size to Eagle Ford, the
second-largest shale gas field in the US.
The Saudi-listed firm claims it to be the
“largest non-associated gas field” in the Kingdom.
The move is part of the Kingdom’s push to commercialize its unconventional
resources and expand Saudi Aramco’s integrated gas portfolio.
The largest natural gas field in the Kingdom, stretching 170 km by 100 km, is
estimated at 200 trillion cubic feet of rich raw gas.
The Jafurah field will place Saudi Arabia third in the world in natural gas
production by 2030, the Ministry of Energy has said.
Aramco expects the production from the Jafurah field to commence in early 2024
and reach about 2.2 billion cubic feet of gas per day by 2036. The field will
also be able to produce about 425 million cubic feet of ethane per day, and
about 550 thousand barrels per day of gas liquids and condensates.
Saudi Aramco plans to develop Jafurah in accordance with the highest
environmental standards. The company expects that the development of Jafurah
would have a positive financial impact in the long term, which will start to
show on the company’s financial results in phases concurrent to the field’s
development, according to a statement posted on the oil company’s website.
The development of the gas field represents a strategic investment opportunity
that will pay off in the years to come and help boost the economic growth of the
country.
Saudi Aramco this year revived the tender process for the Jafurah’s engineering,
procurement and construction packages, buoyed by the economic impacts of the
global vaccination campaign against COVID-19 and resurgent oil prices.
It will also help achieve the Kingdom’s goal of cutting carbon emissions by
replacing oil and its derivatives with gas for power generation.
The development of the Jafurah field will have ramifications not just for Saudi
Arabia and its drive toward a cleaner energy mix, but also for the global gas
market, with recent discoveries in the Eastern Mediterranean rapidly reshaping
economies from Cairo to Ankara and fueling fierce rivalries in the process.
Santos
Limited announces that on 13 June 2025 it
received a non-binding indicative proposal
from a consortium led
by XRG P.J.S.C.,
a subsidiary of Abu
Dhabi National Oil Company and
including Abu Dhabi
Development Holding Company (ADQ) and
Carlyle (the XRG Consortium).
Indicative Proposal price：The
proposal is for the acquisition of all of
the ordinary shares on issue in Santos (Santos
Shares) for a cash offer price
of US$5.76 (A$8.89) per Santos share via a
scheme of arrangement (Potential
Transaction) (Indicative
Proposal).
As at the
close of trading on the ASX on 13 June 2025,
the Indicative
Proposal of US$5.76 (A$8.89) per
Santos Share represented a:
28%
premium to the last closing price of
A$6.96;
30%
premium to the 1-week volume weighted
average price (VWAP)
of A$6.82[3];
34%
premium to the 1-month VWAP of
A$6.61[4];
44%
premium to the 3-month VWAP of
A$6.19[5]; and
39%
premium to the 6-month VWAP of
A$6.40[6].
The
Indicative Proposal is expressed as a “final
non-binding indicative offer” and follows
two confidential, non-binding and indicative
proposals from the XRG Consortium
to acquire 100% of Santos Shares on
21 March 2025 for US$5.04 (A$8.00) in cash
per share and on 28 March 2025, for US$5.42
(A$8.60) in cash per share.
Key conditions
The
Indicative Proposal is subject to the
satisfactory completion of confirmatory due
diligence by the XRG Consortium and the
negotiation and execution of an agreed
scheme implementation agreement (SIA)
with Santos on customary terms and
conditions.
Implementation of the scheme under the SIA
would be conditional on (among other things)
customary approval from the Foreign
Investment Review Board, Australian
Securities and Investments Commission,
National Offshore Petroleum Titles
Administrator, PNG Securities Commission,
PNG Independent Consumer and Competition
Commission and Committee on Foreign
Investment in the United States.
Due diligence access
After
careful consideration of the Indicative
Proposal (including in consultation with its
financial and legal advisers), the Santos
Board has determined that it is in the best
interests of Santos Shareholders to provide
the XRG Consortium with access to
confidential information to conduct
confirmatory due diligence and negotiate the
terms and conditions of an SIA, subject to
reaching agreement with the XRG Consortium
on the terms on which access to due
diligence will be provided.
The XRG
Consortium has indicated that it requires
Santos to enter into a Process and
Exclusivity Deed (to include, among other
things, exclusivity restrictions) before it
progresses to undertaking confirmatory due
diligence and negotiating the terms of the
SIA. Santos intends to negotiate the terms
of the Process and Exclusivity Deed and an
associated Confidentiality Deed with the XRG
Consortium.
Next steps for the Indicative Proposal
The
Santos Board confirms that, subject to
reaching agreement on acceptable terms of a
binding SIA, it
intends to unanimously recommend that Santos
Shareholders vote in favour of the Potential
Transaction, in the absence of a
superior proposal and subject to an
independent expert concluding, and
continuing to conclude, that the Potential
Transaction is fair and reasonable and in
the best interests of Santos Shareholders.
Santos
Shareholders do not need to take any action
in relation to the Indicative Proposal.
Santos notes that there is no certainty that
the XRG Consortium will enter into a binding
SIA or that a Potential Transaction will
proceed. Santos will continue to keep its
Shareholders informed in accordance with its
continuous disclosure obligations.
Goldman
Sachs and JB North & Co are acting as
financial advisers to Santos; Rothschild &
Co is acting as independent board adviser.
Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer is acting as
legal adviser to Santos.
