Sydney, Oct 10, 2007 (ABN Newswire) - After a string of delays and cost increases BHP Billiton has started production at its Atlantis oilfield in the Gulf of Mexico. It's one of the company's most important sources of future earnings. Production was suppose to start more than a year ago but the 2005 hurricane season led to delays and huge cost increases. Altantis, together with the Genghis Khan and Neptune oilfields - which are expected to start production by the end of December, are likely to boost BHP's oil production to more than 100,000 barrels of day. When other growth projects around the world are included, analysts expect BHP's total annual oil production to rise to 135 million barrels of oil equivalent this year, up from 116 million last year. BHP Billiton's has posted increasingly strong profit results over the past four years.

Australian iron ore miner Murchison Metals has made a $987 million bid for Midwest Corp ? seeking to combine the two miners' iron ore projects in the country's west. Murchison, which has partnered with Japan's Mitsubishi Corp says it made the offer for its smaller counterpart after merger talks broke down. The company is offering one of its shares for every 1.08 Midwest share, valuing Midwest at $4.70 per share. The offer is conditional on Midwest not incurring a material tax liability, if it sells a 50 per cent stake in two projects to China's state-owned steel trader Sinosteel Corp. Murchison Metals has been in the red since 2004.

Construction giant Multiplex Group has agreed to sell half of its $235 million World Square office building in Sydney. Proceeds of the sale, to a subsidiary of Credit Suisse Real Estate Fund International, will be used to pay off company debt. It follows the completion of construction of the building formerly known as Latitude East, and its handover to the tenant, the Australian Tax Office. The sale comes just weeks out from the $4.23 billion takeover of Multiplex by Canada-based Brookfield Asset Management. Once that's finalized, Multiplex is expected to be de-listed from the Australian Securities Exchange. Multiplex's profit highlight was in 2007.

The full report is available at the following video and audio links.

Video Link

http://abnnewswire.net/fnnlnk/2467Q4PD


Audio Link

http://abnnewswire.net/lnk/MO2D5SR8



Source: Finance News Network © 2007 http://www.finnewsnetwork.com.au

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