B07 Oil and Gas Extraction

BHP under pressure to lift returns

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Original article by Amanda Saunders
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 23-Feb-15

BHP Billiton has not reduced its dividend since 1988, and analysts generally agree that a reduced payout is unlikely when the resources giant releases its 2014-15 interim results on 24 February 2015. Paul Young of Deutsche Bank does not expect BHP to increase its dividend for at least another two years, arguing that it should focus on growth rather than improving returns to shareholders. Paul McTaggart of Credit Suisse also says a share buyback is unlikely in the next several years

CORPORATES
BHP BILLITON LIMITED – ASX BHP, DEUTSCHE BANK AG, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, SOUTH32 LIMITED

Woodside fuelled up for more acquisitions

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 & 26 : 19-Feb-15

Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum has posted a net profit of $US2.41bn for the 2014 calendar year, an increase of 38 per cent. The group’s underlying net profit of $US2.42bn was 42 per cent higher than previously, while revenue rose by 25 per cent to $US7.44bn. Shareholders will receive a final dividend of $US1.44 per share. CEO Peter Coleman says Woodside has sufficient capital to consider further large acquisitions should appropriate opportunities arise

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, APACHE ENERGY LIMITED, ALPHINITY INVESTMENT MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, MORGAN STANLEY AUSTRALIA LIMITED, CHEVRON CORPORATION, BERNSTEIN RESEARCH

Cooper Energy loses $58m on write-down

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

Australian-listed Cooper Energy has posted a 2014-15 interim loss of $A58m. The result was marred by a write-down of its assets in Tunisia, which now have a carrying value of zero. Cooper Energy has been seeking to offload these assets for some time. The group’s underlying net profit for the half-year fell from $A13.6m previously to just $A900,000. It expects full-year oil production to be between 500,000 and 560,000 barrels

CORPORATES
COOPER ENERGY LIMITED – ASX COE, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ORD MINNETT GROUP LIMITED

BHP: Eagle Ford can weather costs storms

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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

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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

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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’

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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

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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

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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

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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