shell declines to comment on possible bid

Shell Declines to Comment on Reports of Possible Bid for Nexus


By Eduard Gismatullin and Angela Macdonald-Smith

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Dutch Shell Plc Chief Financial Officer Peter Voser declined to comment on reports of a possible bid for Nexus Energy Ltd., the developer of the proposed Crux natural gas liquids venture off northern Australia.

“We do not comment on any M&A transactions,” Voser told reporters today on a conference call. “We do also not comment on what discussions or negotiations we have with a very specific company.”

Nexus rose 6 percent to 44 cents today on the Australian Stock Exchange.

Shell, Mitsui & Co., Nexus’s partners in Australia, or Asian national oil companies such as China Petroleum & Chemical Corp. or Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd. may bid for the Australian company to expand operations, Dave Wall, an analyst at Perth-based Hartleys Ltd., wrote in a report yesterday.

On Jan. 23, Nexus said it was considering “indicative proposals” for both the company and its assets as it seeks funds to build the Crux project. Nexus in October hired Deutsche Bank AG to manage a formal process for the sale of a stake in Crux after Mitsui scrapped a plan to buy an interest for $255 million