By Kari Lundgren – Jul 9, 2012 8:02 AM GMT+0100
PTT Exploration and Production Pcl, the Thai company battling Royal Dutch Shell Plc (RDSA) to take over Cove Energy Plc (COV), extended its offer for the East Africa-focused explorer to July 13.
State-controlled PTT has received acceptances from 0.25 percent of Cove shareholders for its agreed 1.22 billion-pound ($1.9 billion) offer. Its bid has also been approved by Kenya’s competition authority, according to a statement today.
Cove owns an 8.5 percent stake in Mozambique’s Rovuma Area 1, where recoverable natural gas amounting to more than six times the U.K.’s existing reserves has been discovered. PTT’s latest offer of 240 pence a share for Cove topped Shell’s 220- pence bid.