UPDATE: Woodside Petroluem chief executive Don Voelte has echoed BHP Billiton in hosing down speculation that the multinational mining giant was about to embark on a takeover bid for the oil and gas producer.
UPDATE: Woodside Petroluem chief executive Don Voelte has echoed BHP Billiton in hosing down speculation that the multinational mining giant was about to embark on a takeover bid for the oil and gas producer.
"There's so much speculation out there that you wouldn't expect me to say anything other than the following: Woodside does not respond to market or media speculation on these type of things," Woodside chief executive Mr Don Voelte said on Monday.
"With the continuous disclosure laws in Australia, we can't hide this stuff.
"We can't not talk about it.
"I mean, a serious proposal that would ever come in on Woodside, we would have to take it immediately to the marketplace," Mr Voelte told reporters at the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association's annual conference in Perth.
BHP Billiton also said today that it was not aware of any basis for the market speculation that it is in talks with Royal Dutch Shell to acquire its stake in Woodside Petroleum as a precursor to a full takeover of Woodside.
"BHP Billiton advises that the market is currently fully informed of all material information and is not aware of any basis for the market speculation," the company said in a statement.
BHP Billiton's statement comes after shares in Woodside jumped to an almost 18-month high on a report in The Sunday Times in the UK that the mining giant was planning a takeover of the oil and gas producer.
Woodside shares were up 56 cents, or 1.2 per cent, at $47.82 at 1315 AEST after earlier jumping more than seven per cent.
The stock was still trading at the highest since January 14, 2010.
According to media reports, BHP Billiton was in detailed talks with Royal Dutch Shell, Woodside's biggest shareholder, for an eventual STG30 billion ($A46.7 billion) takeover of Woodside.
As part of the rumoured deal, BHP would acquire Shell's Woodside shares, while Shell would acquire Woodside's stake in the Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea.
Then, once the deal was agreed, BHP Billiton would launch a full takeover offer for Woodside.
Premier Colin Barnett says the local natural gas sector would lose out if Woodside Petroleum is taken over by BHP Billiton.
Mr Barnett told the APPEA 2011 oil and gas conference and exhibition in Perth today that if Woodside was taken over, the industry would lose a closeness to government which it would not be able to replace.
Mr Barnett said it was important Woodside remained a WA-based medium sized oil and gas producer and he questioned "how big BHP has to be in the industry".
He said he didn't object to BHP Billiton taking Shell's 34 per cent stake in Woodside but was strongly opposed to a takeover of the energy giant.
"I don't care what happens to the 34 per cent particularly, but I urge you 'hands off Woodside'."
