B07 Oil and Gas Extraction

BHP: Eagle Ford can weather costs storms

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by John Kehoe
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 9-Feb-15

BHP Billiton’s operations in the Eagle Ford region of Texas boast around 2,000 employees and contractors. The group recently revealed plans to shut down 10 of its onshore oil and gas rigs in the US, although this will only affect two of its Eagle Ford rigs. BHP’s David Banks says the group is now one of the fastest and lowest-cost oil drillers in the region, and it aims to become the fastest. Some of its oil wells are now being drilled in less than 10 days

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, EOG RESOURCES, AUSTRALIAN AMERICAN CHAMBER OF COMMERCE, BAKER AND HUGHES

Woodside urges end to Sunrise deadlock

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 15 : 9-Feb-15

Rui Araujo is widely tipped to succeed outgoing East Timor Prime Minister Xanana Gusmao. Deakin University’s Damien Kingsbury says Araujo might be more amenable to negotiations regarding the Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea, which has been the subject of a maritime boundary dispute between Australia and East Timor. Woodside Petroleum wants the impasse to be resolved so it can move forward with its $US13bn ($A17bn) Sunrise gas project

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, DEAKIN UNIVERSITY, EAST TIMOR. OFFICE OF THE PRIME MINISTER, FRETILIN, AUSTRALIA. NATIONAL SECURITY COMMITTEE, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CONOCOPHILLIPS, INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE

BG writes down $9bn in LNG assets on oil slide

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 20 : 4-Feb-15

The recent rapid decline in the global crude oil price continues to affect the LNG sector in Australia. BG Group has been forced to announce provisioning worth $US6.8bn ($A8.87bn) for its Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) project at Gladstone. Another factor in the writedown was the divestment of the pipeline bringing feedstock gas to the plant, to APA Group. BG owns some three quarters of the QCLNG operation. The rival Gladstone LNG and Australia Pacific LNG developments are lead managed by Santos and Origin Energy respectively, which may also soon announce impairments

CORPORATES
BG GROUP PLC, APA GROUP – ASX APA, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, QUEENSLAND CURTIS LNG PTY LTD, GLADSTONE LNG PTY LTD, AUSTRALIA PACIFIC LNG LIMITED, SCHLUMBERGER LIMITED, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, CONOCOPHILLIPS, GORGON JOINT VENTURE, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CHEVRON CORPORATION, MOBIL AUSTRALIA RESOURCES COMPANY PTY LTD, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, SHELL DEVELOPMENT (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

Seven ‘too small to take out Beach’

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by James Thomson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 4-Feb-15

Seven Group Holdings has built up a 13.4 per cent stake in Beach Energy, after initially purchasing 3.5 per cent of the group’s shares in late January 2015. The share raid has prompted speculation of a takeover play, but Tim Mann of Morningstar believes that Seven Group lacks sufficient financial firepower to effect a takeover. Martin Kronborg of Credit Suisse suggests that the move may be in expectation that Beach will attract another suitor

CORPORATES
SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, MORNINGSTAR PTY LTD, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, WESTRAC HOLDINGS PTY LTD, BAILLIEU HOLST LIMITED

Gorgon LNG looks ‘fine’: Chevron

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 2-Feb-15

Chevron CEO John Watson says the economics of the $US29 billion Wheatstone and $US54 billion Gorgon LNG projects in Western Australia will be "just fine" once production begins. Watson is less optimistic about the odds of short-term progress at Chevron’s Kitimat LNG project in Canada. He says management is focused on starting production at Gorgon, which had an initial budget of $US37 billion. Watson concedes that the drop in crude oil prices has placed pressure on the LNG sector as well

CORPORATES
CHEVRON CORPORATION, GORGON JOINT VENTURE, CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, MOBIL AUSTRALIA RESOURCES COMPANY PTY LTD, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, SHELL DEVELOPMENT (AUSTRALIA) PTY LTD, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, APACHE CORPORATION

China claims Woodside withheld gas

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angus Grigg, Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 1 : 29-Jan-15

Woodside Petroleum’s Chinese customers have accused the Australian company and its partners of delaying LNG shipments. The Chinese side claims that the North West Shelf Gas consortium is holding back gas in an attempt to force the clients to renegotiate the terms of a deal signed in 2002 and raise the price. At an investor briefing in August 2014, Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the contract was running at a "cash loss"

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, NORTH WEST SHELF AUSTRALIA LNG PTY LTD, JAPAN AUSTRALIA LNG (MIMI) PTY LTD, TRI-ZEN INTERNATIONAL PTE LTD, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY AND SCIENCE, BP PLC, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, CHEVRON CORPORATION, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP

Santos in ‘active’ talks on CSG project deal

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 20 : 22-Jan-15

Santos plans to sell roughly 30 per cent of its proposed $A2 billion coal seam gas project in Narrabri, New South Wales. The Australian-listed energy group has an 80 per cent stake in the contentious development. It is holding talks with gas ­buyers, manufacturers and global companies. Santos’s vice president of eastern Australia, James Baulderstone, says the project will not proceed without more investors, but the slump in the crude oil price presents "challenges" in the negotiations

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ENERGYAUSTRALIA PTY LTD

Oil prices to stay low for years, JPMorgan warns

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 17 : 21-Jan-15

JP Morgan has lowered its 2014-15 earnings forecast for Australian-listed resources group BHP Billiton to $US8.3bn ($A10.1bn), or $US1.2bn less than the consensus. A major factor is that JP Morgan also expects the global crude oil price to fall further, and not recover for two years. Brent crude is now tipped to trade at $US49 a barrel in 2015 and $US57 in 2016, compared with previous estimates of $US82 and $US88 respectively. However the Global Energy Fund of Investec Asset Management has taken advantage of the bargain buying opportunity to acquire stock in energy company Santos

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, INVESTEC ASSET MANAGEMENT LIMITED, INVESTEC GLOBAL ENERGY FUND, LUKOIL-NEFTEGAZSTROY, CNOOC LIMITED, CHINA NATIONAL OFFSHORE OIL CORPORATION, PETROBRAS, PETROLEO BRASILEIRO SA

Woodside flags cuts, write-downs

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 13 & 20 : 16-Jan-15

Woodside Petroleum has reported total sales of $US1.76bn for the final three months of 2014, while sales for the full year were 22.5 per cent higher at $US7.08bn. The oil and gas producer has warned of the potential for asset write-downs of between $US250m and $US400m as a result of the decline in the crude oil price. Woodside also expects to scale back its capital expenditure in 2015. Its shares closed 1.35 per cent lower at $A35.06 on 15 January

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, UBS HOLDINGS PTY LTD, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, MITSUBISHI CORPORATION, PLATYPUS ASSET MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, PAVILION ENERGY PTE LTD, TEMASEK HOLDINGS (PTE) LTD, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, ORGANISATION OF PETROLEUM EXPORTING COUNTRIES, JP MORGAN AUSTRALIA LIMITED, APACHE CORPORATION

Petrol plunge could hit 85c

roymorgansocial Leave a comment

Original article by Andrew Tillett
The West Australian – Page: 1 & 4 : 14-Jan-15

Data from FuelWatch shows that some service stations in Perth are selling unleaded petrol for $A1.06 per litre. The crude oil price has fallen below $US50 a barrel, and Stephen Moir of the Motor Trade Association of Western Australia says it could potentially fall to around $US30 a barrel. He adds that at that price, Perth motorists could be paying between $A0.85 and $A0.90 per litre for petrol

CORPORATES
FUELWATCH PTY LTD, MOTOR TRADE ASSOCIATION OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA INCORPORATED, COMMONWEALTH SECURITIES LIMITED, COMMONWEALTH BANK OF AUSTRALIA – ASX CBA, ROYAL AUTOMOBILE CLUB OF WESTERN AUSTRALIA (INCORPORATED), PUMA ENERGY (AUSTRALIA) HOLDINGS PTY LTD