BULLETIN: No Impact on Woodside's Ratings Despite Interest in Acquiring Veba Oil&Gas Assets

Primary Credit Analyst: Peter Stephens, Melbourne, (61) 3-9631-2078; peter_stephens@standardandpoors.com The announcement made by Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (Woodside, single-'A'-minus/Stable/'A-2') that it has expressed an interest in acquiring the oil and gas exploration and production assets owned by Veba Oil&Gas GmbH (Veba Oil, not rated) has no impact on the company's ratings at this time said Standard&Poor's. Woodside's expression of interest follows, BP PLC's (double-'A'-plus/Stable/'A-1'-plus) announcement in July 2001 that it would acquire Veba Oil to strengthen its downstream petroleum business in Germany, while at the same time divest Veba Oils' small oil and gas business. Veba Oil currently produces about 160,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from operations in northern Latin America, North Africa, the Caspian

...and the North Sea. Woodside has lodged an expression of interest for these assets in conjunction with other interested parties. However, a short list of bidders is yet to be established, and negotiations leading to the execution of the sale and purchase agreement are likely to continue for some time. Standard & Poor's will continue to monitor the progress of Woodside's growth strategy and if the company is successful in bidding for the Veba assets, analyze the impact of the transaction on the company's business and financial profile....

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