Kerry Stokes’ Seven Group has rebooted the process to sell down a 15 per cent stake in its Crux field after several previous attempts to drum up interest for the asset from international buyers.
Seven bought the stake in 2014 and it’s expected to fetch at least $250m given strong demand for supplies among Asian gas buyers and the importance of the asset to Shell’s Prelude floating LNG project also in the Browse Basin.
Seven confirmed it had hired advisers to explore a sale of its share as the joint venture approaches a final investment decision. The conglomerate earlier this year left the door open to retaining the asset depending on market interest.
Morgan Stanley has previously been on hand but is not thought to have the mandate for the current sales pitch.
The Crux field is in the Browse Basin about 190km off the west coast of Australia and 620km northeast of Broome. The project is majority-owned by Shell, which has an 82 per cent stake, while Osaka Gas owns the remaining 3 per cent.
Gas is expected to be sent to the Prelude floating platform through a 165km subsea pipeline.
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