UPDATE: GDF Suez Buys Anadarko's 60% In Qatar Offshore Block
20 Luglio 2009 - 1:25PM
Dow Jones News
French utility GDF Suez SA (GSZ.FR) has acquired independent oil
and gas company Andarko Petroleum Corp.'s (APC) 60% stake in a
Qatari offshore natural gas block, becoming an exploration and
operation operator in the gas-rich country, the French company said
Monday.
GDF Suez, which buys in most of its gas, has a target of
eventually boosting its own reserves to 1.5 billion barrels of oil
equivalent. That would involve doubling the company's reserves from
the 704 million barrels of oil equivalent it held at the end of
2008.
"The acquisition is part of a strategy to increase the group's
hydrocarbon reserves, notably through geographic expansion of its
exploration and production activities," GDF Suez said in a
statement.
Block 4 extends over a 3,132 square kilometer area off Qatar's
coast and has "several prospects," GDF Suez said.
Qatar is the world's leading exporter of liquefied natural gas
and has huge gas resources.
GDF Suez said it bought the stake in Qatar's offshore Block 4
through the purchase of Anadarko Qatar Block 4 Company LLC but
didn't say how much it paid.
-By Adam Mitchell, Dow Jones Newswires, +33 1 40171756;
adam.mitchell@dowjones.com