There "is nothing we can see that would stop us moving forward . . . it's just time," Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (ASX: WPL) CEO Peter Coleman told "The West Australian". He said that he remained confident of securing the deal to acquire 30% of the Leviathan natural gas field, and has set a June 30 deadline for closing the deal.
"We had some assumption in the offer that we made with respect to what the (export) trigger would be and (the Leviathan partners) are watching what the Israeli government does with respect to exports," Coleman said. "They are concerned it will never be triggered and they won't get the payment, (and) we are concerned it will be triggered without being justified."
Coleman said that the negotiations with Leviathan partners Noble Energy Inc. (NYSE: NBL) and Delek Group Ltd. (TASE: DLEKG) were stuck on the farm-in's final conditions, which related to the triggers under which the gas export, or liquefied natural gas (LNG), payments would fall.
"The West Australian" says, "Latest reports out of Israel are that the government wants to cut from 50% to 40% the amount of Leviathan gas available for export. It remains unclear whether the proposed cut would deter Woodside given Leviathan's resource has increased from 17-trillion cubic feet since the farm-in was announced." The paper adds, "When Woodside announced the farm-in in December, it said it would pay Leviathan's partners $696 million upfront, $200 million once Israel passed laws permitting LNG exports, and a further $350 million once the Leviathan consortium approved an LNG operation. The initial development of Leviathan, which contains 19 trillion cubic feet of gas, is for an Israeli domestic operation. A second-phase LNG development - which is the core of Woodside's ambition - remains subject to Israeli government export approval."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 4, 2013
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