Transocean Signs 11 Well Contract with Chevron Australia
The international provider of offshore contract drilling services for oil and gas wells Transocean announced that the ultra-deepwater semisubmersible GSF Development Driller I was awarded an 11-well contract (approximately 955 days) commencing offshore Australia in the first half of 2019 with Chevron Australia.The estimated firm contract backlog, excluding integrated services, is approximately USD 158 million. Additionally, the contract includes four one-well options.Two days ago, Transocean…
Gas Production Begins at Ichthys LNG Project
Inpex Corp said on Monday it has begun producing gas at the $40 billion Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project off northern Australia, a major milestone for the long-delayed project."The project expects to begin the shipment of products towards the end of the first half of the current fiscal year," Inpex said in a statement. The first half ends in September.Condensate will be shipped first, followed by LNG, Inpex said.(Reporting by Sonali Paul)
LNG Shipping Rates Spike With no Respite Seen Through 2019
The price of shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) has spiked in September and is likely to remain high next year, buoyed by rising production from new plants and concerns that demand for LNG vessels will outpace supply.The rate for vessels shipping LNG from the Atlantic Basin to Asia has jumped to $90,000 to $95,000 a day this week from $75,000 a day at the end of August, brokers and traders said.Rates, which broadly hovered around $30,000 to $40,000 a day from 2015 to 2017, have risen due to longer distances covered to transport LNG from new terminals in the United States and Arctic Russia…
NRCAN Grant Triggers Major Investment in the Bay of Fundy
The next wave of tidal energy development at the FORCE facility in the Bay of Fundy Nova Scotia has been triggered by a substantial grant of $29,750,000 under the Emerging Renewable Power Program (ERPP) from Natural Resources Canada (NRCan).European based renewable energy developer DP Energy is managing two berths in the Bay of Fundy through its Canadian registered company, Halagonia Tidal Energy Limited. It intends to develop both berths together as a single project under the banner Uisce Tapa (pronounced Ish ka Ta Pa) which means fast running water in Gaelic.
What Glencore-Tohoku Coal talk Impass Means for Market
Electric utilities in Japan and other Asian countries are driving blind when it comes to coal prices after the failure of Japan's Tohoku Electric and Glencore to agree on an annual thermal coal contract that is used to set prices for the region. Tohoku Electric, a major Japanese utility, and Glencore, the world's biggest exporter of seaborne thermal coal, abandoned the talks last month on their annual Australian supply contract. "Both parties seem to have tried hard to come to a consensus but always had large difference in price expectations this year," energy consultancy Wood Mackenzie said in a note to clients.
MODEC Secures FPSO FEED Contract
MODEC, Inc. subsidiary MODEC International Inc. has been awarded a contract by ConocoPhillips Australia, as operator of the Barossa joint venture, for the Front End Engineering Design (FEED) of a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for Australian waters.Under the contract, MODEC will participate in the FEED on a competitive basis against a JV of two other contractors.Barossa is an offshore gas and light condensate project that proposes to provide a new source of gas to the existing Darwin LNG facility.
Inpex to Ship First Ichthys LNG Cargo by End of September
Inpex said it expects to ship first cargo from its Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia by the end of September after safety issues have been resolved, maintaining an earlier schedule.Australian regulators had discovered safety issuess on the Ichthys offshore gas platform and was considering enforcement action.The Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project carried out an inspection mainly on electrical equipment during the process of final safety verifications in cooperation with Australian regulators, in preparation for the start-up of production.
Carlyle Group Acquires EnerMech from Lime Rock Partners
Global alternative asset manager The Carlyle Group announces that it has agreed to acquire EnerMech Group Ltd, an international services company providing critical asset support to the energy, infrastructure and industrials sectors, from Lime Rock Partners.The transaction is expected to close in Q4 2018, subject to customary anti-trust and regulatory approvals.Equity for this investment will come from Carlyle International Energy Partners (CIEP), a $2.5 billion fund that invests in the global oil and gas sector outside North America.
Australian States Delay Approving New Energy Policy
Australia's states on Friday held off approving a plan to end more than a decade of climate and energy wars and spur investment in new power supply, disappointing industry seeking certainty on energy policy.Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull is pushing a National Energy Guarantee (NEG) in a bid to bring down electricity prices, which have more than doubled over the past decade, and ensure supplies following a string of blackouts in 2016 and 2017.Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said after a meeting with state governments that it had been "an important step forward" for the plan, which has been under negotiation for n
LNG Shipping Rates Spike with No Respite Seen Through 2019
The price of shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) has spiked in September and is likely to remain high next year, buoyed by rising production from new plants and concerns that demand for LNG vessels will outpace supply.The rate for vessels shipping LNG from the Atlantic Basin to Asia has jumped to $90,000 to $95,000 a day this week from $75,000 a day at the end of August, brokers and traders said.Rates, which broadly hovered around $30,000 to $40,000 a day from 2015 to 2017, have risen due to longer distances covered to transport LNG from new terminals in the United States and Arctic Russia…
Seaborne LPG Trade Rebounds: Dorian LPG
Seaborne LPG trade rebounded in the second calendar quarter of 2018 thanks to heavy lifting schedules in the Middle East and the United States, as well as an improvement in arbitrage economics towards the end of the three-month period, said Dorian LPG.After a lackluster first calendar quarter of 2018, exports from the United States peaked at approximately 2.7 million metric tons in May 2018, and total U.S. exports for the first half of 2018 were 4% higher as compared to the same period in 2017.Appetite…
Plans for Another South Australia LNG Import Plant in the Works
A private firm is looking to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) to South Australia starting in 2020, around the same time as two other proposed import projects, looking to fill a supply gap as domestic gas gets sucked into LNG exports.Venice Energy, set up by former BHP Billiton executives, plans to submit a development application to the South Australian government within the next month to park a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) in Port Adelaide, Managing Director Kym Winter-Dewhirst said.If regulatory approvals come through by March…
Woodside Petroleum Half-year Profit Rises
Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd said on Wednesday that its first-half net profit rose 6 percent and it raised its 2018 production outlook after strong performances from its Wheatstone and Pluto LNG projects.For the 2018 fiscal year, Woodside said it now expects fiscal 2018 production between to 87 mmboe to 91 mmboe from an earlier outlook of 85 mmboe to 90 mmboe.Production costs per barrel of oil equivalent across all operating assets for 2018 are expected to be between $5.50 and $5.80, Woodside…
Weatherford CEO's Rebound Plan Relies on Getting Smaller
Four years ago, oilfield company Weatherford International Plc pledged to sell non-core businesses and make paying down debt its top priority after years of borrowing and over spending.It almost worked. Asset sales provided some $1.8 billion to pare debt, and Weatherford's stock nearly doubled that year. But when oil prices plummeted in mid-2014 and customer spending on new wells followed, Weatherford failed to cut costs fast enough and payments on its debt jumped, killing its stock price rally.Mark McCollum…
Build It and They Will Buy: The New World of LNG Canada
The first major liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to be approved globally in five years will be built in Canada, but its underlying philosophy appears to be more closely allied to the Australian concept of "she'll be right, mate."The LNG Canada project was given the green light on Tuesday by Royal Dutch Shell, which is leading the $31 billion venture along with partners Petronas, Mitsubishi, PetroChina and Korea Gas.What makes the first export plant on Canada's west coast different to the last…
AGL LNG Import Project Slowed by Environment Review
Plans by Australia's AGL Energy to start importing liquefied natural gas from 2021 will be delayed after the state of Victoria called for the company and its pipeline partner to submit a full environmental assessment of their project.The review process typically takes nine to 12 months, which means AGL will not be able to reach a final investment decision on the A$250 million ($178 million) jetty project by June 2019, as it had hoped.AGL had been on track to be the first of four proposed LNG…
Hibiscus Petroleum to Double Production
Malaysian oil and gas exploration and production company Hibiscus Petroleum is aiming to double its oil output in the United Kingdom and Malaysia to 20,000 barrels per day (bpd) by 2021, a senior company executive said on Thursday.It needs an additional $50 million by 2020 to boost production from about 10,000 bpd now, Kenneth Pereira, managing director of the company, told reporters."That's our maximum negative cashflow for projects already identified and that's based on a $60 per barrel oil scenario…
Transocean to Buy Ocean Rig in $2.7 Bln Deal
Offshore oil driller Transocean Ltd said on Tuesday it would buy peer Ocean Rig UDW Inc in a $2.7 billion cash-and-stock deal, its second major acquisition this year as the company bets on a recovery in the offshore sector.The acquisition signals new optimism for offshore drillers, which were hit hard by the steep plunge in oil prices from 2014. Offshore projects, which are more costly than onshore work and take years to develop, became less attractive after oil prices fell to below $30 a barrel in 2016.Global crude prices have since recovered to above $70…
Hoegh LNG to Supply FLNG Terminal to Australian Import Project
Norway's Hoegh LNG has won a tender to supply a floating LNG import terminal for a consortium aiming to import liquefied natural gas to Australia's east coast from 2020 in a push to boost local supply.Australian Industrial Energy, a consortium that includes Japan's JERA and Marubeni Corp, said on Monday it signed an agreement giving it the right to lease one of Hoegh LNG's floating storage and regasification units (FSRU), to be docked at Port Kembla.The project needs approvals from the state of New South Wales, which is evaluating the proposal on a fast track as "critical state significant infrastructure", amid p
Hoegh Backs Out of Chile LNG Project but Buoyant on Market
Hoegh LNG said on Thursday it had let agreements lapse in Chile that tied one of its floating liquefied natural gas (LNG) import vessels to a project there because approvals for the initiative were likely to be delayed again.The Norwegian company was due to provide a floating storage and regasification unit (FSRU) to GNL Penco for 20 years under a 2015 deal, with an original start date of the second quarter of 2018, but regulatory permits were slow in coming.Hoegh said it had been "made aware that the planned approval process for the GNL Penco FSRU project is likely to be further delayed…
