Total Would Bolster Grip on Asian Gas Market With InterOil

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Total SA, Europe’s third-biggest oil company, would expand its foothold in Asia’s liquefied natural gas market by acquiring InterOil Corp., according to a report by Bloomberg Intelligence.

Total would almost double its 40 percent state in Papua New Guinea’s Elk-Antelope gas fields, which may emerge as the world’s lowest cost exporter to Asia, with a takeover of Singapore-based InterOil, Lu Wang and Philipp Chladek, analysts with BI, said in a note Tuesday. Oil Search Ltd. has a 23 percent stake in the gas field. InterOil hasn’t ruled out a takeover.