PetroChina Co, the largest oil producer in Asia, and Royal Dutch Shell have completed a joint take-over of Australian coal seam developer Arrow Energy, PetroChina announced Monday.

In an acquisition deal signed on March 19, PetroChina International Investment Company Ltd, a subsidiary of PetroChina, and Shell Energy Holdings Australia Ltd, agreed to establish a 50-50 joint venture to pay A$3.5 billion (US$3.1 billion), or A$4.70 per share, to buy all Arrow stock.

Five months on, the deal had won approval of Arrow's shareholders, and the Australian and Chinese governments, said a statement from PetroChina.

Under the deal, the joint-venture owns Arrow and Shell's coal seam assets in Queensland, and Arrow's power generating sector in Australia. Assets of a natural gas project on Curtis Island are also included.

The deal was PetroChina's first move into Australia's coal seam market, and was expected to lay a solid foundation for Sino-Australian cooperation in coal seam development, the statement said.

PetroChina said it was confident of Arrow's future development, since Arrow was an industry leader in terms of coal seam energy development technology and marketing capability.

The acquisition would help PetroChina to become an internationally competitive energy company, said the statement.

It said PetroChina hoped to deepen cooperation with Australia in energy development.

(Xinhua News Agency August 24, 2010)