australian oil and gas company oil search ltds acting ceo peter fredricson said santos ltd likes the proposed pikka oil development in alaska as the companies continue to advance their proposed merger oil search had been seeking to sell a stake of around 15 in pikka to reduce its funding needs when its peer santos approached the company about a merger which will create one of the worlds 20 largest oil and gas companies by market value as a merged entity there is less requirement for such a selldown mr fredricson told dow jones newswires thursday he said the pikka sales process has been on the backburner since merger talks with santos began oil searchs shareholders are due to vote on the merger on dec 7