China this morning stepped up its worldwide hunt for gas to keep its 1.3 billion population warm.
PetroChina, the Hong Kong-listed arm of state-owned China National Petroleum Corporation, paid London-listed mining giant BHP Billiton $1.63 billion (£1.01 billion) for stakes in two Australian projects, making this PetroChina’s biggest investment Down Under for two years.
Billiton wanted to quit its minority shareholdings — respectively 8% and 20% — in both the East and the West Browse liquefied natural gas projects because development costs were rising.
J Michael Yeager, chief executive of BHP Billiton Petroleum, said the deal was a winner for both sides: the Chinese gained a “world-class gas resource” and BHP is helped in its cost-cutting drive — which included shelving plans for a $30 billion expansion to the Olympic Dam copper-and-uranium mine in south Australia.
These cutbacks are in stark contrast to the ambitions of BHP boss Marius Kloppers when he took the helm five years ago. The straight-talking South African — who once jokingly warned Yeager: “I’ll kill you, Mike,” if he answered a question during a press briefing — has previously attempted mega-deals for great rival Rio Tinto and Canada’s Potash Corporation of Saskatchewan.
