Leading French multi-energy group invests in Australian project 27 September 2010 Leading French multi-energy group, Total, has signed an agreement with the Australian gas conglomerate, Santos, and the Malaysian oil company, Petronas, to invest US$750 million to acquire a 20 per cent interest in the GLNG* Project in Australia. As part of the deal, Santos will transfer 15 per cent and Petronas, 5 per cent, of the GLNG Project to Total. The deal is subject to approval by the Australian Foreign Investment Review Board (FIRB). The GLNG Project is extracting coal seam gas from fields in the Bowen-Surat Basin in Queensland, where resources are estimated at over 250 billion cubic metres of gas. Total’s President Exploration & Production, Yves-Louis Darricarrère, said that GLNG is the first coal seam gas project for Total, which is actively pursuing a strategy of investing in high quality unconventional gas assets. “The LNG project is a new milestone for Total in Australia,” Mr Darricarrère said. “It gives the Group further access to the Asian market, the fast growing market for gas demand and in particular LNG, offering high value prices linked to oil prices.” Total is the fifth largest publicly-traded integrated international oil and gas company in the world. *GLNG = Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas More information |