Exxon's PNG InterOil plan has hit some hurdles

The company's bid comes unstuck over undervalued gas reserves

ExxonMobil is running into new hurdles as it tries to buy Papua New Guinea (PNG)-based gas explorer InterOil. The move would give it a dominant role in one of Asia-Pacific's most competitively priced sources of liquefied natural gas. Despite implicit endorsement from the PNG government and after trumping rival takeover efforts by Woodside Energy and Oil Search, Exxon's move is being thwarted by InterOil's founder and third-largest shareholder, Phil Mulacek, who says the bids still significantly undervalue the target's hydrocarbon assets. Exxon launched an $2.5bn unsolicited scrip-based bid - a bid offering shares instead of cash - for InterOil in mid-2016 but raised this to around $3.9bn in