The stock of controversial energy firm InterOil (IOC) rose yesterday on a Platts' story that the company may be close to signing a partnership with a Japanese company.
Such a partnership might allow InterOil (IOC) to begin to actually exploit the energy resources it believes it has found in Papua New Guinea.
Not surprisingly, however, IOC's critics suggest that the Platts story was planted by the company in an attempt to keep hopes alive. They also note that the deals described in the Platts story won't help the company build a major liquid natural gas plant, which is the only way it will be able to derive real value from the finds.
Platts' LNG Daily reports, according to "sources close to the matter," that InterOil "reached a preliminary agreement" with a "Japanese partner" for a liquids stripping project, an alliance that would be a precursor to the company's planned $7 billion liquid natural gas development.
The article is short on specifics: InterOil and its partners are in “final negotiations” to select a partner, “as there are several Japanese companies that have expressed interest in becoming partners in the condensate and the LNG project,” said the source, declining to elaborate. If true, such a partnership would add needed cash and credibility to the company's attempts to build its operations and exploit the "world record" energy reserves it has long claimed. Another potential partner is Indian gas company Gail, which is in talks to buy a stake in InterOil, according to Upstream.....Read the entire article.
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