Bloomberg: Total Would Bolster Grip on Asian Gas Market With InterOil

Total SA, Europe’s third-biggest oil company, would expand its foothold in Asia’s liquefied natural gas market by acquiring InterOil Corp., according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence.

Total would almost double its 40 percent state in Papua New Guinea’s Elk-Antelope gas fields, which may emerge as the world’s lowest cost exporter to Asia, with a takeover of Singapore-based InterOil, Lu Wang and Philipp Chladek, analysts with BI, said in a note Tuesday. Oil Search Ltd. has a 23 percent stake in the gas field. InterOil hasn’t ruled out a takeover.

Oil giants have turned to LNG as easy-to-find crude disappears and prices tumble. Royal Dutch Shell Plc’s $70 billion bid for BG Group Plc is seen as a push for gas dominance and an effort to rebound from its worst production performance in 17 years. MORE