B07 Oil and Gas Extraction

Oil price slide rings global alarm bells

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Original article by Sarah Turner
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 16 : 27-Nov-18

The latest fall in crude oil prices has weighed on Australian oil stocks and heightened concerns about the outlook for the global economy. The price of West Texas Intermediate has fallen by 34 per cent since peaking at $US76.41 a barrel in early October, closing 7.7 per cent lower at $US50.42/barrel on 23 November. Brent crude in turn fell 6.1 per cent to $US58.80, extending its loss since early October to 31.9 per cent. Martijn Rats of Morgan Stanley says there is a good chance that OPEC will respond with further production cuts.

CORPORATES
MORGAN STANLEY AND COMPANY INCORPORATED, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, NATIONAL AUSTRALIA BANK LIMITED – ASX NAB, VERTIUM ASSET MANAGEMENT, UNITED STATES. EXECUTIVE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT

Santos buckles up for a wild ride in volatile oil market

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 19 & 29 : 16-Nov-18

Crude oil is trading at around $US56 a barrel, having peaked at $US81 in early October. Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher expects the recent price volality to continue in the near-term, although he is confident that the Adelaide-based oil and gas producer can ride it out. Meanwhile, Santos is hopeful that its new exploration joint venture with Shell in Queensland will yield new a source of gas supply for the east coast.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES

Exxon’s $120m Bass Strait bet fails to deliver gas

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 27 : 15-Nov-18

ExxonMobil Australia chairman Richard Owen has advised that a drilling program at the Dory gas prospect in Bass Strait has failed to yield commercial quantities of hydrocarbons. ExxonMobil drilled the Baldfish and Hairtail wells at a cost of $120m, with the hope of finding a new source of gas for the Longford processing plant in Victoria. Owen says ExxonMobil is optimistic that it will have success in future exploration of the VIC/P70 permit.

CORPORATES
EXXONMOBIL AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, LIBERTY PETROLEUM, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, APACHE ENERGY LIMITED

Woodside boss rejects west-east gas pipeline

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Original article by David Swan
The Australian – Page: 22 : 14-Nov-18

The economic viability of a gas pipeline linking Australia’s east and west coasts has been questioned by Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman. He argues that a "virtual pipeline" linked to LNG import terminals would be a more sensible solution to the east coast gas crisis than the construction of a west-east pipeline, which would cost around $5bn. Coleman has also advocated an increase in Australia’s hydrogen exports.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, THE MELBOURNE MINING CLUB

APA shares plunge after Canberra blocks CKI buy bid

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Original article by Matt Chambers, Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: Online : 9-Nov-18

Shares in APA Group fell by 10 per cent on 8 November after Treasurer Josh Frydenberg indicated his "preliminary view" on Hong Kong-listed CK Infrastructure’s $13 billion bid for the pipeline operator. Frydenberg stated he did not consider the bid to be in the "national interest"; he is expected to make his final decision in around two weeks. Superannuation fund infrastructure investor IFM is seen as the local entity most likely to make an approach to APA with a bid if Frydenberg’s views remain unchanged; any Australian-based bid for APA is expected to be lower than CKI’s

CORPORATES
APA GROUP – ASX APA, CHEUNG KONG INFRASTRUCTURE HOLDINGS LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, IFM INVESTORS PTY LTD, WOOD MACKENZIE, COOPER ENERGY LIMITED – ASX COE, DUET GROUP, MOODY’S ANALYTICS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

PRRT changes may hold up oil and gas projects

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 20 : 7-Nov-18

Macquarie Group expects Woodside Petroleum to be affected the most by the federal government’s changes to the petroleum resource rent tax’s uplift rate. Meanwhile, Saul Kavonic of Credit Suisse warns that the review of the PRRT’s transfer pricing rules is a greater material risk to the value of existing LNG plants than the increase in the uplift rate, due to the potential for any changes to be retrospective. Macquarie has also cautioned that the transfer pricing review – which is slated to take 12-18 months – could result in delays to oil and gas projects and impact on the sector’s future earnings.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, MACQUARIE GROUP LIMITED – ASX MQG, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE TREASURY, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO

BHP backs Scarborough project

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 20 : 25-Oct-18

Woodside Petroleum aims to commence development of the Scarborough gas field in 2020, after buying ExxonMobil’s stake earlier in 2018. Development of the project will boost the struggling petroleum division of BHP Billiton, Woodside’s partner in Scarborough. Steve Pastor, the head of BHP’s oil and gas operations, says the resources giant is upbeat about Scarborough, whose development had stalled under the joint ownership of ExxonMobil. BHP’s oil and gas production could fall to its lowest level in 20 years in 2018, following the sale of its US shale assets.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ENERGY INTELLIGENCE GROUP INCORPORATED, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES

Woodside offers fix on Sunrise deadlock

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 19-Oct-18

ConocoPhillips advised in late September that it had entered into an agreement to sell its stake in the Greater Sunrise venture to the Timor-Leste government for $US350 million. Woodside Petroleum and the other members of the venture have pre-emption rights over the stake, and Woodside CFO Sherry Duhe says a decision on whether to do so will be made soon. Timor-Leste is insisting that gas from Greater Sunrise is processed onshore, but Woodside CEO Peter Coleman has reaffirmed that an onshore plant would not meet its investment hurdles. He said a way around this dilemma would be for Woodside to only invest in the offshore part of the project. Woodside has reported a 25.4 per cent increase in sales for the September quarter.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CONOCOPHILLIPS, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, OSAKA GAS COMPANY, TOKYO GAS COMPANY LIMITED, KANSAI ELECTRIC POWER COMPANY INCORPORATED

Exxon coy on Bass drill test

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 17 & 20 : 16-Oct-18

ExxonMobil has advised that it is evaluating data from its Baldfish gas well in Bass Strait, but its lack of disclosure regarding the drilling program has prompted speculation about a large gas find. The gas well is located within the Dory prospect, which ExxonMobil acquired in 2017. Australian Industrial Energy has estimated that it could potentially cost at least $4bn and 10 years to develop the Dory field. AIE has advocated the construction of an LNG import terminal.

CORPORATES
EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL ENERGY PTY LTD, LIBERTY PETROLEUM, APACHE ENERGY LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP

Low CSG quality may hit export contracts

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 22 : 12-Oct-18

Australia Pacific LNG CEO Warwick King has told an energy conference that extracting gas from Queensland’s coal seam gas fields is proving to be more difficult than expected. There has been growing concern among industry analysts that the CSG reserves that have underpinned Queensland’s LNG export projects may not able to be extracted economically. Approval for the Gladstone plants was based on proven and probable reserves, whereas LNG export plants in Western Australia were approved on the basis of proven reserves.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, AUSTRALIAN INDUSTRIAL ENERGY, SENEX ENERGY LIMITED – ASX SXY, JEMENA LIMITED