Oil slump causes mergers in Australia

The slump in crude oil prices has caused a number of Australian energy companies to pursue mergers.
Coal seam gas explorer Metgasco on Monday announced a plan for a merger with Elk Petroleum, which would result in a 25 million Australian dollar (20.3 million U.S. dollars) company, which would include Metgasco's coal seam gas and conventional gas assets in Australia and Elk's oil venture in the Rocky Mountain region of the United States.
Meanwhile, oil and gas company Neon Energy revised a proportional takeover bid by Evoworld.
Under the terms of the revised offer, Evoworld will bid 3.8 Australian cents (3.1 U.S. cents) a share for half of interests held by Neon shareholders.
Neon shares closed at 3.4 U.S. cents (2.7 U.S. cents) on Friday, down from 41 Australian cents (33.5 U.S. cents) a year ago after an exploration well in Vietnam failed.