B07 Oil and Gas Extraction

ATO eyes Gorgon’s tax-free profits

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Original article by Neil Chenoweth
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1&8 : 17-Aug-15

The Australian Taxation Office (ATO) is investigating tax arrangements of the companies involved in the Gorgon natural gas project. The ATO is concerned that the interest on loans provided by Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell to their Australian arms is more than 10 times higher than the interest rate charged by third-party lenders in the US. The matter is also being investigated by the Senate inquiry into corporate tax avoidance, chaired by Senator Sam Dastyari, which will file an interim report in Parliament on 17 August 2015.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIAN TAXATION OFFICE, CHEVRON CORPORATION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CONSOLIDATED PRESS HOLDINGS LIMITED, FEDERAL COURT OF AUSTRALIA

Gorgon’s first LNG cargo faces delay

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 : 3-Aug-15

US-based Chevron has advised that the Gorgon LNG project may not commence shipments until early 2016. Production was initially slated to begin in the September 2014 quarter, but this was subsequently pushed back to late 2015 due to delays and a cost blowout. Chevron executive Jay Johnson says unforeseeable events such as inclement weather could further delay the $US54bn project, which also faces the threat of strike action over enterprise agreement negotiations.

CORPORATES
CHEVRON CORPORATION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CB&I INCORPORATED

Strike threat poses new risk to $73b Gorgon gas project

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 11 : 20-Jul-15

The Fair Work Commission has given the green light for unions to hold a ballot of Gorgon LNG workers, prompting concerns that strike action will lead to further delays in completing the $US54bn ($A73bn) project. The protected ballot of CB&I employees follows the failure of negotiations over a new enterprise agreement. Chevron anticipates that exports from the Gorgon venture will commence by the end of 2015.

CORPORATES
AUSTRALIA. FAIR WORK COMMISSION, CB&I INCORPORATED, CHEVRON CORPORATION, CONSTRUCTION, FORESTRY, MINING AND ENERGY UNION OF AUSTRALIA, AUSTRALIAN MANUFACTURING WORKERS’ UNION, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

LNG price pain to be laid bare

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 14 : 14-Jul-15

Nik Burns of UBS expects Woodside Petroleum’s revenue for the June 2015 quarter to be 36 per cent lower than the March quarter. Meanwhile, revenue at Oil Search is tipped to be 35 per cent lower, as the downturn in the crude oil price begins to impact on LNG producers. Meanwhile, Adrian Prendergast of Morgans Financial expects Woodside’s dividend yield to fall from seven per cent to 3.2 per cent.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MORGANS FINANCIAL LIMITED, APACHE CORPORATION, GLADSTONE LNG PTY LTD, INTERNATIONAL ENERGY AGENCY, PLATTS

Weak gas prices trigger AGL shift

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 & 6 : 7-Jul-15

AGL Energy will not proceed with the Hunter coal-seam gas project in New South Wales or the expansion of its Camden project. However, AGL will press ahead with its Gloucester coal-seam project, despite a $A275m impairment charge that has reduced the value of the project to $A131m. AGL has revealed total writedowns in excess of $A600m after a review of its gas assets. AGL plans to sell some oil and gas assets, and it will no longer aim to derive 50 per cent of the gas supplied to customers from its own resources.

CORPORATES
AGL ENERGY LIMITED – ASX AGL, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, ESSO AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, DEUTSCHE BANK AG

Woodside’s FLNG venture design begins

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 26 : 2-Jul-15

Australian-listed Woodside Petroleum and its partners in the Browse floating LNG project will commence front-end engineering and design work. Woodside still hopes a final decision on the project will be made in the second half of 2016, although Citigroup recently forecast that a decision will be delayed until mid-2017. Woodside will hold a 30.6 per cent stake in the Browse project, which has not secured any customers.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BP PLC, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, PETROCHINA COMPANY LIMITED, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, CITIGROUP PTY LTD, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD

Flagging energy in LNG sector tipped to last until 2022-23

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 1-Jul-15

Citigroup is bearish about the outlook for the LNG industry, forecasting that a global oversupply will be sustained until at least 2022. The firm also expects growth in spot and contract prices for LNG to remain subdued in the long-term. Meanwhile, it anticipates that a number of projects in the sector will be delayed, including the Woodside Petroleum-led Browse floating LNG venture and ExxonMobil’s Papua New Guinea project.

CORPORATES
CITIGROUP INCORPORATED, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION

Wesfarmers makes $US100m oil, gas play

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Original article by Julie-anne Sprague, Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 23 : 25-Jun-15

Wesfarmers will pay $US100m ($A129m) for a 27.4 per cent stake in a special-purpose vehicle that holds the Quadrant Energy stakes of Angela Bennett and Macquarie Capital. This in turn will give Wesfarmers a 13.7 per cent stake in Quadrant, which was previously known as Apache Australia and owns oil and gas assets in Western Australia. Wesfarmers MD Richard Goyder describes the Quadrant stake as a stand-alone investment for the conglomerate.

CORPORATES
WESFARMERS LIMITED – ASX WES, QUADRANT ENERGY PTY LTD, MACQUARIE CAPITAL PTY LTD, APACHE CORPORATION, AMB HOLDINGS PTY LTD, COLES SUPERMARKETS AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, KMART AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CSBP LIMITED, BROOKFIELD ASSET MANAGEMENT INCORPORATED, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, NEXUS ENERGY LIMITED, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, DRILLSEARCH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX DLS

Woodside mulls $US8.5b Texas LNG export project

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 16 : 5-Jun-15

Woodside Petroleum and US-based Sempra Energy are expected to make a final investment decision on a proposed LNG export terminal in 2017. Development of the Port Arthur project in Texas could cost about $US8.5bn ($A10.9bn), according to Citigroup. The export terminal would have annual production capacity of 10 million tonnes. Woodside is keen to build its presence in the LNG trading sector.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, SEMPRA ENERGY, UNITED STATES. FEDERAL ENERGY REGULATORY COMMISSION, CHENIERE ENERGY INCORPORATED, CITIGROUP PTY LTD

LNG projects risk start delays

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 25-May-15

Wood Mackenzie has forecast that several major LNG projects in Australia will not commence production on schedule. The consulting firm expects Inpex’s Ichthys project to begin production in 2017 rather than late 2016, although Inpex executives have recently indicated that the original timeframe will be met. Wood Mackenzie also anticipates that the Wheatstone and Gorgon projects will face delays in commencing production.

CORPORATES
WOOD MACKENZIE, INPEX CORPORATION, CHEVRON CORPORATION, SAMSUNG HEAVY INDUSTRIES COMPANY LIMITED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, DAEWOO CORPORATION, ICHTHYS LNG PTY LTD, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, MACQUARIE PRIVATE WEALTH MANAGEMENT PTY LTD