ENERGY INDUSTRIES – AUSTRALIA

Santos suitor could offload key gas assets

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 5-Apr-18

Mark Samter of Credit Suisse has identified the Cooper Basin infrastructure at the Moomba gas plant as one of the Santos assets that Harbour Energy could potentially agree to divest in order to secure approval from the Foreign Investment Review Board. Samter says Santos’s assets in Western Australia could also be earmarked for sale if the $A13.5bn takeover bid succeeds. Approval from the FIRB is widely seen as a key risk for Harbour’s bid.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, HARBOUR ENERGY LIMITED, CREDIT SUISSE (AUSTRALIA) LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, WATERMARK FUNDS MANAGEMENT PTY LTD, QUADRANT ENERGY PTY LTD, SOUTH AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, HONY CAPITAL, ENN GROUP

Santos heats up with $13.5bn bid

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 19 & 22 : 4-Apr-18

Analysts say that gaining Foreign Investment Review Board approval for its $A13.5bn bid for Santos will be the greatest hurdle for US-based Harbour Energy. Santos has granted due diligence after the private equity-backed firm offered $A6.50 per share, compared with an initial approach in August which was pitched at $A4.55 per share. Harbour Energy has flagged plans to expand Santos’s drilling program in the Cooper Basin and increase domestic gas supply if its bid succeeds.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, HARBOUR ENERGY LIMITED, AUSTRALIA. FOREIGN INVESTMENT REVIEW BOARD, EIG GLOBAL ENERGY PARTNERS, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, ENN GROUP, HONY CAPITAL, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL

Long-delayed Ichthys LNG almost ready

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 28-Mar-18

Inpex Corporation has advised that the Ichthys LNG project is nearing completion, although it has declined to provide any guidance on when production will commence. The commissioning process for the first onshore production unit has been completed, while commissioning of the offshore processing platform is slated for completion in the next two months. The cost of the Ichthys project has blown out from $US34bn to $US40bn, while production was originally scheduled to begin in late 2016.

CORPORATES
INPEX CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, WOOD MACKENZIE, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC

Woodside rejigs pay to drive discipline

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Original article by Samantha Bailey
The Australian – Page: 20 : 20-Mar-18

Woodside Petroleum CEO Peter Coleman was paid a total of $A10.3m in 2017, including almost $A4m in incentives. Some two-thirds of Coleman’s short-term incentives were paid in cash, but his future cash bonuses will be restricted to 12.5 per cent under Woodside’s revised executive incentive structure. Other key executives will also be restricted to cash bonuses of 12.5 per cent. The changes follow a review of Woodside’s incentive plan in 2017.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL

Chevron says sector needs more teamwork

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Original article by Brad Thompson
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 15-Mar-18

Chevron Australia MD Nigel Hearne has called for more co-operation among the nation’s oil and gas producers. He has cited the three separate LNG processing facilities on Curtis Island in Queensland as an example of how industry players could have collaborated in building the infrastructure. Meanwhile, Western Australian Premier Mark McGowan has ruled out relaxing the state’s gas reservation policy to allow gas to be shipped to the east coast unless WA gets a more equitable share of goods and services tax revenue.

CORPORATES
CHEVRON AUSTRALIA PTY LTD, CHEVRON CORPORATION, WESTERN AUSTRALIA. DEPT OF THE PREMIER AND CABINET, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, INPEX CORPORATION, AUSTRALIAN COMPETITION AND CONSUMER COMMISSION

Sunrise gas no chance for Darwin LNG

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 21 : 9-Mar-18

Santos executive Bruce Clement says there is little prospect of gas from the Sunrise project in the Timor Sea being processed at the Darwin LNG plant. The Darwin facility and a greenfields plant in East Timor are the only options included in a new treaty on the maritime boundary between Australia and East Timor. The Darwin plant currently processes LNG from the Bayu-Undan gasfield, which is expected to be exhausted by 2022-23. Clement says the Barossa gas field is the only one that can be assured of supplying the Darwin plant after Bayu-Undan reaches the end of its life.

CORPORATES
SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO, CONOCOPHILLIPS, SK GAS COMPANY LIMITED, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, OSAKA GAS COMPANY, PTTEP OFFSHORE INVESTMENT COMPANY LIMITED

Floating LNG not an option for Sunrise

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 17 : 8-Mar-18

Woodside Petroleum and ConocoPhillips have expressed disappointment that Australia and East Timor have not reached agreement on processing gas from the Sunrise gas field in the Timor Sea. An onshore processing facility in either Darwin or East Timor are the only options outlined in the new treaty on the maritime boundary between the two nations. Woodside has advocated the construction of a floating LNG plant. East Timor’s share of government revenue from Sunrise would be higher if the existing Darwin LNG plant is used.

CORPORATES
WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL, CONOCOPHILLIPS, ROYAL DUTCH SHELL PLC, PERMANENT COURT OF ARBITRATION, CARNARVON PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX CVN

Mitsui offer for AWE deemed fair

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Original article by Angela Macdonald-Smith
The Australian Financial Review – Page: 18 : 22-Feb-18

AWE Limited has posted a 2017-18 interim net loss of $A23.8m, although its underlying loss narrowed from $A11.5m previously to just $A5.3m. Meanwhile, an independent expert’s report by Grant Thornton has concluded that the $A602m takeover offer from Japan-based Mitsui is "fair and reasonable". The firm values AWE’s shares at between $A0.78 and $A1.06, compared with Mitsui’s offer of $A0.95 per share. RBC Capital Markets says Mineral Resources and China Energy Reserve & Chemical Group are unlikely to make new offers for AWE.

CORPORATES
AWE LIMITED – ASX AWE, GRANT THORNTON AUSTRALIA, MITSUI AND COMPANY LIMITED, RBC CAPITAL MARKETS, MINERAL RESOURCES LIMITED – ASX MIN, CHINA ENERGY RESERVE AND CHEMICAL GROUP COMPANY LIMITED, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT

New LNG export trains to lift Oil Search output

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 20 : 21-Feb-18

Oil Search has posted a 2017 net profit of $US302.1m, which is 236 per cent higher than previously. MD Peter Botten says the company’s output could potentially double in the next 5-7 years, after Oil Search reached agreement with ExxonMobil and Total to increase their LNG output in Papua New Guinea by building three additional production trains. The new trains would feed gas from the Elk/Antelope gas field and the PNG LNG project into the existing PNG LNG plant. The expansion is subject to formal approval by the projects’ partners and the PNG government.

CORPORATES
OIL SEARCH LIMITED – ASX OSH, EXXONMOBIL CORPORATION, TOTAL SA, WOODSIDE PETROLEUM LIMITED – ASX WPL

More gas needed to meet demand: Beach

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Original article by Matt Chambers
The Australian – Page: 28 : 20-Feb-18

Beach Energy has posted a 2017-18 interim net profit of $A95.7m, which is seven per cent lower than previously. Beach has advised that the expected annual cost savings from its acquisition of Lattice Energy will be around $A50m, compared with its previous guidance of $A20m. Meanwhile, Beach executive Lee Marshall has warned that the east coast will face a gas supply shortage by the mid-2020s unless new gas reserves are found and ones that are considered to be uncommercial at present are developed.

CORPORATES
BEACH ENERGY LIMITED – ASX BPT, LATTICE ENERGY LIMITED, ORIGIN ENERGY LIMITED – ASX ORG, SEVEN GROUP HOLDINGS LIMITED – ASX SVW, SANTOS LIMITED – ASX STO