Dec 12 (Reuters) - The following are the top stories in the Financial Times. Reuters has not verified these stories and does not vouch for their accuracy.

Headlines

COST OF AUSTRALIA'S GORGON LNG PROJECT RISES TO $54 BLN

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HILTON IPO PRICES NEAR TOP OF THE RANGE TO RAISE $2.35 BLN

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RBS SETTLES U.S. SANCTIONS CASE WITH $100 MLN PACT

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ECB POISED TO GET TOUGH ON SOVEREIGN BOND RISKS

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JAMIE DIMON SAYS JPMORGAN READY TO SETTLE MADOFF CLAIMS

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PEUGEOT AGREES MAIN TERMS OF TIE-UP WITH CHINA'S DONGFENG

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Overview

The second-largest U.S. oil company Chevron said the Australian Gorgon project it is leading has slipped further behind schedule and over budget - the plant's expected cost, which was estimated at $37 billion when it was launched in 2009, has been increased to $54 billion.

Six years after taking Hilton Worldwide private in one of the largest deals of the leveraged buyout boom, Blackstone Group LP is set to return the hotel operator to the public markets after it raised $2.35 billion in its IPO.

State-backed Royal Bank of Scotland will pay U.S. regulators a $100 million fine to resolve probes that the lender violated sanctions prohibiting business dealings with Iran, Sudan and other regimes.

The European Central Bank could make eurozone banks hold capital against sovereign bonds, in a bid to stop weak lenders from using its cash to buy up debt from crisis-hit countries, according to ECB executive board member Peter Praet.

JPMorgan Chase Chief Executive Jamie Dimon signalled the bank intended to pay penalties over allegations that it had failed to notify U.S. authorities that it suspected Bernard Madoff was running a Ponzi scheme.

PSA Peugeot Citroen and state-owned Chinese carmaker Dongfeng have agreed to an industrial and commercial alliance that will include a sizable capital injection into the French group in return for technology sharing.