Australia's Santos said on Friday it had granted exclusive due diligence for a period of six weeks to an international consortium led by Abu Dhabi's National Oil Company (ADNOC), which had offered $18.7 billion for the gas producer.
ADNOC's investment arm XRG, along with Abu Dhabi Development Holding Company (ADQ) and private equity firm Carlyle, had offered $5.76 (A$8.89) per Santos share when the proposal was announced in mid-June.
At the time, the XRG consortium said it was negotiating to carry out due diligence with Santos on an exclusive basis before formalising the offer which would need at least 75% support from Santos investors.
The consortium has also agreed to a confidentiality agreement with Santos, the Australian energy firm said.
XRG now stands on the cusp of a deal that would give it stakes in major operations across Australia and Papua New Guinea— pending regulatory approval.
Carlyle and XRG did not immediately respond to Reuters requests for comment.
(Reuters - Reporting by Rishav Chatterjee in Bengaluru; Editing by Devika Syamnath)