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Oil Search to buy rival InterOil for US$2.2 bil in PNG deal

AFP Published on Fri, May 20, 2016 / 4:00 PM GMT+8

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SYDNEY (May 20): Papua New Guinea explorer Oil Search Friday said it had bought rival InterOil in a multi-billion-dollar deal, but will sell off some of the assets to French energy giant Total to fund part of the takeover.

Oil Search is to pay US$40.25 per share for the US-listed company for a total value of approximately US$2.2 billion ($3.03 billion), as it looks to boost its interests in a key liquefied natural gas (LNG) project under development in resource-rich Papua New Guinea.

The Papua LNG Project, which will be operated by Total, includes one of Asia's largest undeveloped gas fields, Elk-Antelope.