PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Australian oil and gas major Santos on Wednesday refused to comment on speculation that it was considering a A$1.5-billion offer for its stake in joint venture oil- and gasfields projects in Western Australia.

The Financial Review reported that Quadrant Energy had approached Santos with an offer for oil- and gasfields jointly owned by the two companies, in a deal valued at some A$1.5-billion.

Quadrant Energy was established in June following the sale of Apache Energy’s Western Australian oil and gas assets to a consortium comprising Brookfield Assets and Macquarie Capital.

Meanwhile, Marubeni Corporation was also reported to be in separate talks with Santos to buy a 3.6% stake in the Papua New Guinea liquefied natural gas (PNG LNG) project.

Santos currently holds a 13.5% stake in the PNG LNG project, with operator ExxonMobil holding a 33.2% stake, Oil Search a 29% stake, Nippon Oil Exploration a 4.7% stake and Mineral Resources Development Company a 2.8% stake. The PNG government holds the balance of the project.

The latest speculation comes just days after Santos rejected a A$7.1-billion takeover offer from Scepter Partners on behalf of the managed funds of its core stakeholders.

The indicative and highly conditional nonbinding proposal had seen Scepter offer A$6.88 in cash for each Santos share.

The Santos board told shareholders the offer was opportunistic and did not reflect the fair underlying asset value, while the proposal was also subject to a number of conditions, some of which it believed would adversely affect Santos’s continued evaluation of other alternatives in its current strategic review process.

Santos in September announced a review of all options to restore and maximise shareholder value. The options included possible asset divestment as part of its ongoing portfolio management, provided fair long-term value could be realised.

“The strategic review is ongoing and will continue to consider all proposals which deliver appropriate value and certainty for shareholders,” a Santos spokesperson told Mining Weekly Online on Wednesday.

Neither Marubeni nor Quadrant Energy had responded to requests for comment at the time of writing.