APA Group to pay US$5bn for Queensland pipeline

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Image credit: BG Group website

Australia’s largest natural gas infrastructure business APA Group (APA) will pay US$5 billion for BG Group’s Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) pipeline through the purchase of the shares in QCLNG Pipeline Pty Ltd.  

Image credit: BG Group website
Image credit: BG Group website

APA owns and operates in excess of $12 billion of energy assets with gas transmission pipelines spanning across every state and territory in mainland Australia. APA delivers approximately half of the nation’s gas usage.

BG Group, a world leader in exploration and LNG, announced the deal on Tuesday, stating that it is consistent with its strategy of actively managing its global asset portfolio.

“We are pleased to have entered into an agreement for the sale of this high-quality infrastructure with a bidder the calibre of APA Group. The sale of the QCLNG pipeline is in line with our strategy to focus on BG Group’s core areas of oil and gas exploration and production and LNG. The timing reflects QCLNG’s advanced stage of development; we are now on the verge of delivering the world’s first large-scale project using natural gas from coal seams as a feedstock for LNG,” said Andrew Gould, interim Executive Chairman of BG Group.

Adertisement

QCLNG Pipeline Pty Ltd owns a 543 kilometre, large-diameter underground pipeline network linking BG Group’s natural gas fields in southern Queensland to a two-train liquefied natural gas (LNG) export facility at Gladstone on Australia’s east coast. Built between 2011 and 2014, the pipeline is valued at US$1.6 billion.

The transaction is expected to be completed in the first half of 2015.

The deal was executed by Macquarie, Morgan Stanley and Deutsche Bank.