AGL is finalising vital agreements on sales, government approvals and joint ventures relating to the $6 billion PNG Gas Project that might help it regain momentum in its takeover tussle with Alinta.

Shares in Oil Search, the company that holds 45per cent of the proposed PNG-to-Queensland pipeline, fell 20cents, or 25 per cent, to 60 cents as the market digested the implications of AGL's decision.

At the same time ExxonMobil, the operator of the PNG Gas Project, has advised participants that the cooperative heads of agreement between the parties has also lapsed. AGL still believes that the ...