ENERGY INDUSTRIES – AUSTRALIA

Australia becomes an LNG force

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 21 & 24 : 7-Dec-18

Data from Bloomberg shows that Australia’s LNG exports totalled 6.55 million tonnes in November 2018, surpassing Qatar (6.27 million tonnes) for the first time. Australia’s LNG shipments for the calendar year are expected to exceed 78 million tonnes, compared with 77 million tonnes for Qatar. Projects such as Ichthys will further boost Australia’s LNG exports, although both Qatar and the US intend to increase production. Meanwhile, official figures show that Australia’s revenue from LNG exports totalled $38.8bn in the year to October, while coal and iron ore revenue was $64.6bn and $61.6bn respectively.

CORPORATES
BLOOMBERG LP, AUSTRALIAN BUREAU OF STATISTICS, AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF INDUSTRY, INNOVATION AND SCIENCE, INPEX CORPORATION, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, S&P PLATTS

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

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

Woodside may back Timor gas export plant

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Original article by Perry Williams
The Australian – Page: 22 : 3-Oct-18

ConocoPhillips’ deal to sell its 30 per cent stake in the Sunrise gas field to the Timor-Leste government may prompt Woodside Petroleum to resume negotiations over development of the Timor Sea resource. There is speculation that Woodside may be more open to processing gas at a greenfields plant on Timor-Leste in the wake of ConocoPhillips’ move. Woodside has a 33 per cent stake in Sunrise and it is the operator of the project.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CONOCOPHILLIPS, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, OSAKA GAS COMPANY, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, WOOD MACKENZIE, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED

Beach Energy shares soar on growth plans

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 22 : 28-Sep-18

Beach Energy currently produces 26-28 million barrels of oil equivalent each year, but it has outlined plans to increase this to 34-40 million boe by 2022-23. The company will also seek to lift its free cash flow to $2.3bn within five years. The Lattice Energy assets, which Beach bought from Origin Energy for $1.59bn in 2017, will be a major growth driver. Beach took on $US1.58bn worth of debt to finance the acquisition, but CEO Matt Kay expects the company to be almost debt-free by the end of 2019-20.

CORPORATES
BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, NEW ZEALAND OIL AND GAS LIMITED, OMV AG, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO