B07 Oil and Gas Extraction

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

‘Leaner’ Woodside targets acquisitions

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 18 : 22-May-15

Woodside Petroleum is expected to decide whether to proceed with the Greater Enfield oil project in 2016. The group will commence engineering and design work on the Western Australian project ahead of schedule, in order to secure lower costs for oil rigs. CEO Peter Coleman has also flagged acquisitions, including oil projects and LNG receiving terminals in Asia. Woodside is also seeking to reduce costs and improve productivity.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, APACHE CORPORATION, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, CHEVRON CORPORATION, WOOD MACKENZIE, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED

Services sector ‘well placed’ for LNG boom

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 & 23 : 21-May-15

WorleyParsons CEO Andrew Wood rejects suggestions that mining services groups lack the capacity to handle huge growth in Australia’s LNG industry in coming years. Chevron Australia MD Roy Krzywosinski recently expressed concern about the ability of mining services providers to cope with the increase in LNG production. Wood argues that once projects commence production their maintenance requirements are much lower than in the construction stage.

CORPORATES
WORLEYPARSONS LIMITED – ASX WOR, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, ACCENTURE AUSTRALIA LIMITED, BG GROUP PLC, CHEVRON CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN PETROLEUM PRODUCTION AND EXPLORATION ASSOCIATION LIMITED, INPEX CORPORATION, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, AUSTRALIAN MINES AND METALS ASSOCIATION (INCORPORATED), KPMG AUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Barclays: oil will be lower for longer

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 27 : 21-May-15

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil was trading at $US58.60 per barrel on 20 May 2015. Grant Porter of Barclays is bearish about crude oil, forecasting that the US price could trade at around the $US65 level until at least 2017. He notes that drilling work at many US oil wells is partially complete, and they will begin production when the oil price becomes more favourable.

CORPORATES
BARCLAYS BANK PLC, THE GOLDMAN SACHS GROUP INCORPORATED, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, BG GROUP PLC

LNG barge resurfaces

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 19 : 20-May-15

Santos and Engie dropped plans to use floating LNG technology for the Bonaparte gas project in mid-2015, as it was deemed to be unviable. However, the two groups may revisit the proposal by placing an FLNG plant on a barge just off the coast of the Northern Territory. It is estimated that this would reduce the cost of using FLNG technology from $US4bn to around $US2bn. It would also cut the Bonaparte project’s annual production from 2.6 million tonnes of LNG to two million tonnes.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ENGIE SA, CITIGROUP PTY LTD