Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina have joined forces for a 2.96 billion US dollar bid for Arrow Energy, hoping for a bigger slice of Australia's liquefied natural gas boom, the company said on Monday.
The two energy giants are offering 4.45 Australian dollars (4.04 US) per share, or about 3.26 billion Australian dollars, plus one share in a new company comprising Arrow's international business.
"At this stage the Arrow Board recommends shareholders take no action in relation to their Arrow shares," Arrow said in a statement, adding that it had appointed financial and legal advisers.
Arrow claims to have the largest reserves of coal seam gas in Australia's northeastern state of Queensland, in its holdings at the Bowen and Surat Basins.
The company's shares rocketed some 45 percent to 5.05 Australian dollars on news of the bid, which could herald a shake-up in the sector as companies work towards exporting coal seam gas in liquefied form.
Australia has already signed contracts worth tens of billions of dollars with Asian countries for the clean-burning LNG created from natural gas, which is chilled into liquid form for shipping.
