Search This Blog

Friday, February 12, 2016

RM1b Sabah deal off due to falling oil price?

Petronas Gas Bhd (petGas) and Sabah Energy Corp Sdn Bhd decided to scrap a deal to develop a regasification terminal at Lahad Datu in Sabah due to the fall in price of fuel, including oil and natural gas.

The price of crude oil has drop more than 70pc over the past 18 months and is currently trading at around US$30 a barrel.

In a filing with Bursa Malaysia, PetGas said both parties had agreed to mutually terminate the agreement.

"In view of the prolonged uncertainty of the Regasification Terminal Lahad Datu (RTLD) project, the parties to the shareholders' agreement (SHA) for Regas have mutually agreed to terminate the said SHA effective Feb 10, 2016."

On Sept 10, 2012, PetGas had offered state-owned Sabah Energy to acquire up to a 20pc stake in the project, which was worth about RM1bil.

Sabah Energy was supposed to subscribe to one ordinary share of RM1,000, with the agreement ena-bling it to subscribe up to 20pc of the equity within a stipulated time-frame.

According to reports, the RTLD was supposed to be a joint-venture effort between the companies and was intended to undertake the construction and development of the LNG Regasification Facilities in Lahad Datu.

The facilities were scheduled for completion in 2015 and would have a send-out capacity of 0.76 million tonnes per annum.

However, the project ran into various problems, including a halt due to the Lahad Datu insurgency in February 2013.

In June last year, it was issued a stop work order due to security concerns within the area.

Under the agreement, the option period for Sabah Energy to acquire the 20pc stake was up to 12 months of the commercial operation date of the facilities, failing which the subscribed share by Sabah Energy EC up to the said date, as well as the right to subscribe to the 20pc equity, would revert to PetGas.

Sabah Energy was given up to six months after the commercial opera-tion date of the facilities to subscribe to the full 20pc portion of the equity at par value.

Beyond the six months and up until 12 months after the commercial operation date, Sabah Energy would then have to subscribe to the full 20pc at a premium.

In May 2012, it was reported that the capital expenditure for the liquefied natural gas regasification terminal in Lahad Datu would be around RM1bil, including construction, land acquisition, commissioning and pre-commissioning activities until the plant begins operations.

PetGas recorded a 27pc drop in net profit to RM304.98mil in the third quarter ended Sept 30, 2015, against RM418.63mil a year ago due to an unrealised foreign exchange loss on finance lease liabilities.

Revenue for the third quarter stood at RM1.134bil, slightly higher than the RM1.123bil recorded in the previous year.

No comments:

Post a Comment