Shell, PetroChina and Arrow: the next resource grab  

The FT has an article on a joint Shell / Chinese takeover bid for Queensland CSG producer Arrow Energy (I was pleased to see they included a link to my old coal seam gas post - I haven't seen many incoming links from the mainstream media lately - unsurprisingly given the scarcity of original content here lately) - Shell, PetroChina and Arrow: the next big resources grab.

One potential glitch, however, might be the sensitivities Down Under about China’s growing interest in buying up Australian natural resources companies. Although all has been relatively quiet recently, the reverberations from a string of deals - successful and otherwise – last year are still being felt.

Not only does the offer highlight the push by Shell and PetroChina to dominate Australia’s coal-bed methane gas sector. It also puts the focus on Australia’s emergence as a leader in unconventional gas – even as analysts predict a wave of consolidation in the sector amid too many competing projects.

Even so, as the FT notes in a separate analysis, the boom in the domestic US shale gas industry – another form of unconventional gas – comes just as Australia is set to secure its path to becoming the world’s biggest exporter of unconventional gas.