Australian Treasurer Peter Costello said today the government had blocked Royal Dutch Shell's Aus$10 billion (IR£5 billion) takeover bid for Woodside Petroleum Ltd.
"I have decided that the Shell proposal is contrary to the national interest," Mr Costello told reporters.
Woodside is the major domestic stakeholder in strategic oil and gas reserves off Australia's northwest coast where it is one of six partners and project manager for the North West Shelf (NWS) gas project, regarded as Australia's foremost natural resource.
The project produces more than a third of Australia's oil and almost half of its natural gas.
"Woodside is the operator of the project and it is in the national interest of Australia that the project be developed to its full capacity and that Australia's export sales from the NWS are maximised," Mr Costello said.
Shell currently owns a 34.27 per cent stake in Woodside but the government had been under pressure from within its own ranks to block the hostile takeover bid.
AFP