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Tui operator AWE plans merger with Perth-based ARC Energy
19 June 2008, Source: AWE and Lindsay Clark - One of the most active explorers in New Zealand’s offshore Taranaki Basin, Sydney-based Australian Worldwide Exploration Ltd is to grow bigger by a proposed takeover of another Australian explorer ARC Energy Ltd.
The expanded AWE group is expected to have production of over 12 million barrels of oil equivalent with reserves of 78.3 million barrels of oil equivalent and exploration acreage across some of the most prospective offshore basins in Australia and New Zealand.
The enlarged company will also have greater financial strength and flexibility to pursue exploration, and deliver on future production, AWE and ARC said when announcing the merger.
AWE and ARC said they remain on target to complete the transaction by mid-August 2008.
ARC shareholders have been offered a combination of cash and shares while ARC’s interest in the Canning Basin of West Australia is to be de-merged into a separate listed company, though AWE will continue to hold a small interest.
ARC has become the dominant player in onshore Western Australia while AWE has become successful in recent years with the Tui oil field in Taranaki, two gas projects in Bass Strait and an oil project north of Perth.