Saturday, July 27, 2024

Western Australia News

Woodside to Boost Vincent Crude Quality to Ride VLSFO Demand

Woodside Petroleum will improve the quality of Vincent crude by increasing its flash point from July so that it can be blended into very low sulphur fuel oil (VLSFO) and capture higher premiums, two sources told Reuters.Among crude grades, heavy sweet oil, with higher density and less sulfur, is most suitable for blending into VLSFO that meets the new marine fuel sulfur regulations dubbed IMO 2020. However, crude with a low flash point could…

Woodside Finalizes Gas Deal with Uniper

Scarborough concept (Image: Woodside)

Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum Ltd said on Tuesday it has signed an agreement to supply liquefied natural gas (LNG) to German utility Uniper SE for 13 years starting 2021.Under the agreement, Woodside said it would initially supply up to 0.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa) of LNG, which could increase to 1 Mtpa from 2025.However, supply from 2025 remains conditional upon a final investment decision related to the company's Scarborough project off northwestern Australia.Woodside is looking to develop Scarborough to feed a new 5 Mtpa producti

Woodside Sees Reserve Base Tripling

(File photo: Woodside)

Australia's Woodside Petroleum on Tuesday laid out plans to triple its gas and oil reserve base as it pursues projects worth over $36 billion in Australia, Senegal and Myanmar.Success in those projects would result in its reserve base reaching 3.7 billion barrels over the next seven years and help Woodside expand production by 6% a year over the next decade, it said."We believe we now have a compelling growth story," Woodside Chief Executive…

Santos Posts Record High Output

(Photo: Santos)

Australia's number two independent gas producer Santos Ltd on Thursday said third-quarter production and sales volumes peaked to record levels, benefiting from higher output from its Western Australia assets.Revenue of $1.03 billion was the second highest quarterly sales on record, the company said in a statement, while production surged 32% to 19.8 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), beating an estimate of 18.9 mmboe by UBS."Another…

Santos Acquires ConocoPhillips’ Northern Australia Interests

Santos announced it has acquired ConocoPhillips’ northern Australia business with operating interests in Darwin LNG, Bayu-Undan, Barossa and Poseidon for US$1.39 billion plus a $75 million contingent payment subject to FID on Barossa.Matt Fox, ConocoPhillips executive vice president and chief operating officer, said, “While we believe the Darwin LNG backfill project remains among the lower cost of supply options for new global LNG supply, this…

Woodside in LNG Supply Deal with Uniper

Australian LNG producer Woodside signed a heads of agreement (HOA) with Uniper Global Commodities SE for a long-term (13 years) supply deal which would kick off in 2021.The quantity of LNG to be supplied will initially be up to 0.5 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa), increasing to approximately 1 Mtpa from 2025.Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said the HOA, signed at Gastech in Houston, builds on previous LNG supply arrangements between Woodside and Uniper.“This HOA deepens our relationship with Uniper…

ExxonMobil Looks to Sell Australian Assets

(Photo: ExxonMobil)

Exxon Mobil Corp said on Wednesday it was looking to sell its 50% stake in the Gippsland Basin oil and gas development in Australia's Bass Strait as part of a broader review of its global portfolio of assets.The sale could fetch up to $3 billion, however decommissioning costs for the ageing fields could dent the price tag, analysts and bankers said.The Gippsland Basin joint venture, off the state of Victoria, has long been the mainstay oil and gas supplier for southeastern Australia…

Woodside Begins Greater Enfield Project

Australian energy giant Woodside has announced in a press release that it will produce first oil from its Greater Enfield project located offshore Australia this month."We expect first oil from the Greater Enfield reservoirs in August 2019. The delivery of the Greater Enfield Project, on schedule and under budgeted cost, is a further demonstration of our capacity to execute our growth plans, Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said.The Ngujima-Yin floating…

Flowserve Inks Deal for Prelude FLNG

Flowserve Corporation (FLS), a provider of flow control products and services for the global infrastructure markets, has entered into a five-year contract with Shell Australia to provide general maintenance services for Shell’s Prelude Floating Liquified Natural Gas (FLNG) facility, which is producing natural gas from an offshore field in Western Australia.A press release from the American multinational corporation said that it will support Prelude from its recently refurbished Quick Response Center (QRC) in Darwin…

Beach Energy to Boost Drilling Spend

(Photo: Beach Energy)

Beach Energy, Australia's third-largest independent oil and gas producer, ended the 2019 financial year more cashed up than expected and plans to step up spending on drilling while keeping an eye out for acquisitions, its boss said on Wednesday.Beach paid off debt on its A$1.6 billion ($1.1 billion) acquisition of Lattice Energy within just 18 months, two years earlier than originally planned, with the help of an asset sale and strong cash flow from its expanded portfolio.The company ended the year to June 30 with net cash of A$172 million…

Woodside Q2 Revenue Slides 32%

(Photo: Woodside)

Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd reported a 32% drop in second-quarter revenue on Thursday, the first decline in six quarters, as it was hit by an extension of planned maintenance at its Pluto liquefied natural gas facility and weaker prices.The country's largest listed oil and gas explorer said production for the quarter ended June 30 fell to 17.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), from 22.1 mmboe a year earlier. The latest quarter production figure was above Citi estimates of 16.33 mmboe.Sales fell to $738 million from $1.08 billion…

Santos Posts Record Production in Q2

(Photo: Santos)

Australia's No 2 independent gas producer Santos Ltd said on Thursday it had clocked record gas production in the second quarter on stronger output across its Western Australia gas assets.Production for the three months to June 30 rose to 18.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) from 14.2 mmboe last year, the company said. The figure was higher than a Citi estimate of 17.78 mmboe.The company, however, slightly trimmed the upper end of its 2019 sales and production forecast, while raising the lower end.

Woodside Plans Maintenance at Karratha Gas Plant

(Photo: Woodside)

Australia's Woodside Petroleum has planned maintenance at its Karratha gas plant, part of the North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) export project, in the third quarter of the year, according to a notice on the company website.The first scheduled maintenance will affect one unidentified LNG train at the Woodside-operated plant in Western Australia from July 26 to Aug. 13, according to the notice.The second maintenance will be carried out on multiple LNG trains from Sept. 5 to Oct.

Prelude FLNG Ships First LNG Cargo

The Prelude FLNG facility, with the Valencia Knutsen berthed side-by-side (Photo: Shell)

The first shipment of liquefied natural gas (LNG) has sailed from Shell’s Prelude floating LNG (FLNG) facility offshore Australia, Shell announced Tuesday alongside its joint venture partners INPEX, KOGAS and OPIC.This shipment from the world’s largest floating producer of LNG, located 475 kilometers northeast of Broome in Western Australia, will be delivered by the LNG carrier Valencia Knutsen to customers in Asia, more than eight years after…

Chevron Starts Gorgon Stage Two Drilling

Chevron Australia and the Gorgon joint venture participants have started the Gorgon Stage 2 drilling campaign off the northwest coast of Western Australia.Gorgon Stage Two is an expansion of the existing subsea gas gathering network on the Chevron-led Gorgon facility and is part of the project’s original development plan.Chevron Australia Managing Director Al Williams said the campaign will drill 11 additional wells in the Gorgon and Jansz-Io…

Ichthys Ramps Up Output

(File photo: INPEX)

A tanker carrying liquefied natural gas (LNG) has been floating off Australian waters for nearly two weeks as production at Ichthys project ramps up, industry sources told Reuters.The tanker 'Symphonic Breeze' has been moored at Darwin anchorage since April 17 after loading a cargo from the recently launched Ichthys LNG facility, shipping data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.The LNG cargo has already been sold to a North Asian buyer, who chose to lift it at a later date due to high inventory in its tanks, an industry source familiar with the matter said

US Oil Sees Growing Reach

Two cargoes of U.S. crude oil have been booked to sail to Australia, trade sources and data companies said, highlighting the increasing global reach of exports from the United States.Aframax tanker Esther Spirit loaded U.S. oil in early April at Enterprise Houston Terminal and is scheduled to discharge at Kwinana in Western Australia on May 20, ship-tracking data from Refinitiv and Vortexa showed.BP Plc chartered the Silver Sun, an Aframax, to load from the U.S.

Santos Posts Record Production in Q1

Santos in January announced first oil from the Van Gogh infill project, marking the completion of the two-well program that will increase production from the field. (Photo: Santos)

Australia's No.2 independent gas producer Santos Ltd on Wednesday posted record quarterly production, boosted by its acquisition of Quadrant Energy assets, while sales revenue jumped 28 percent.Santos said production for the quarter ended March 31 rose to a record 18.4 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), up from 13.8 mmboe last year.Revenue came in at $1.02 billion, the second-highest quarterly revenue on record, it said.Santos acquired Quadrant Energy last year in a $2.15 billion deal…

Santos Finds Gas Off Western Australia

(Image: Santos)

Santos announced Tuesday it has confirmed significant gas resource in the Corvus-2 appraisal in the Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia.Corvus-2 is located in 63 meters water depth, approximately 90 kilometers northwest of Dampier in Commonwealth waters within petroleum permit WA-45-R, in which Santos has a 100% interest.The well was drilled approximately 3 kilometers southwest of Corvus-1 (drilled in 2000) using the jack-up mobile offshore drilling unit Noble Tom Prosser and reached a total depth of 3,998 meters.

Woodside Expands LNG Supply

Australian exploration and production company Woodside has opened a liquefied natural gas (LNG) truck loading facility at its Pluto LNG project in Western Australia (WA), as it looks to develop the domestic LNG market for remote power generation and transport fuels.The Pluto LNG project is located 190km north-west of Karratha in WA, in the Northern Carnarvon Basin. It processes LNG from the Pluto and Xena gas fields, which have total dry gas…