Australia NEWS

MELBOURNE, Jan 20 (Reuters) - Australian gas producer Santos Ltd (STO.AX) booked record sales revenue for 2021, pumped up by soaring oil and gas prices, and expects to reap big gains following its $6.2 billion takeover of Oil Search amid a surging energy market. After approaching Oil Search with an offer in the middle of last year, seeking to put together a top-20 global company that could weather the transition to cleaner energy, oil and gas prices have strengthened and beefed up the value of the deal.

Infill drilling offshore Western Australia could generate 13,500 bpd of new production

Melbourne — Oil prices slipped on Thursday, trimming big gains from the previous two sessions, amid uncertainty over near-term demand as cases of the highly contagious Omicron variant of the coronavirus surge around the globe.

MELBOURNE, Jan 11 (Reuters) - Oil prices rose on Tuesday after two days of losses, with some risk appetite returning as the market awaited clues from the U.S. Federal Reserve chairman on potential rate rises and as some oil producers continued to struggle to beef up output. Brent crude futures gained 26 cents, or 0.3%, to $81.13 a barrel at 0156 GMT, after dropping 1% in the previous session. U.S. West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude futures rose 30 cents, or 0.4%, to $78.53 a barrel, after falling 0.8% on Monday.

Austria-focused oil and gas producer, ADX Energy has protected itself against oil market jitters by locking in a hedged pricing position with supermajor BP for production from its Gaiselberg and Zistersdorf fields in the Vienna basin. The deal comes as the ASX-listed ADX waits for test results from its Anshof-3 discovery that it hopes will push even more volume through its newly struck hedge facility. The company said it had locked in a zero-collar hedging contract with BP with a pricing floor at US$73 per barrel, or “bbl” and a cap at US$82.60 per barrel. According to the company, oil price markets for Brent crude that remained above US$79/bbl enabled it to secure what it describes as an attractive price for its hedging contract.

Australia's Gladstone Port on the east coast finished 2021 by exporting a five-month low of 1.88 million mt of LNG in December, while volumes for the full year hit a record high of 23.28 million mt, data from the Gladstone Ports Corporation showed Dec. 7. The December volume was down 14% year on year, and 12% month on month. The fall comes comes after four consecutive months of increases, which culminated in an 11-month high of 2.14 million mt in November, the data showed.

MELBOURNE, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Oil prices slid on Friday but were set to post their biggest annual gains in 12 years, spurred by the global economic recovery from the COVID-19 slump and producer restraint, even as infections surged to record highs around the world.

Australia’s offshore safety regulator has ordered Shell to shut down its giant Prelude floating LNG vessel off Western Australia’s North West coast while damning the company’s ability to operate the facility after it descended into chaos in early December following a series of power failures.

Australian junior Empire Energy has hit gas in its latest shale exploration well in the Northern Territory’s onshore Beetaloo basin. Empire confirmed Wednesday the vertical section of the Carpentaria-2 well had been completed to a depth of 1835 metres and intersected thick liquids rich gas shales across the four stacked Velkerri formation pay zones.

Oil and gas giant BP said Wednesday “the production of green hydrogen and green ammonia using renewable ‎energy” was now technically feasible at scale in Australia. The energy major’s conclusion is based on the findings of a feasibility study announced in May 2020 and supported by the Australian Renewable Energy Agency, solar developer Lightsource bp and professional services firm GHD Advisory.

Billionaire Sajjan Jindal-led JSW energy is one of the largest players working towards going green. The company has set aside a target to reach 20 GW of power generation capacity by 2030, which will have around 85% of the green and renewable energy portfolio. It’s working on technologies like green hydrogen, offshore wind, and battery energy storage and has recently tied up with Australia-based Fortescue Future Industries (FFI) to explore green hydrogen development and use in industrial and transport sectors in India.

Solar and wind plants can produce green hydrogen with the help of electrolysers, and JSW Energy’s collaboration aligns with its plan to expand the renewable energy share in its portfolio to 85% by 2030 from the current 30%. The country currently consumes about around 6 million tonne of hydrogen nnually. JSW Energy said on Thursday its subsidiary JSW Future Energy has entered into a framework agreement with Australian Fortescue Future Industries to collaborate on green hydrogen production. Solar and wind plants can produce green hydrogen with the help of electrolysers, and JSW Energy’s collaboration aligns with its plan to expand the renewable energy share in its portfolio to 85% by 2030 from the current 30%.

Amp Energy’s Australian operating company, Amp Power Australia, is set to establish a portfolio of integrated solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and battery energy storage (BESS) assets. Amp Energy’s Australian operating company, Amp Power Australia, is set to establish a portfolio of integrated solar photovoltaic (PV), wind and battery energy storage (BESS) assets. The Renewable Energy Hub of South Australia (REHSA) will involve a total investment of more than A$2bn ($1.54bn).

Australia is expected to witness the commencement of 118 oil and gas projects’ operations across value chain during the period 2021-2025, accounting for 6% of the total project starts in the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region. ‘Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Projects Outlook to 2025 - Development Stage, Capacity, Capex and Contractor Details of All New Build and Expansion Projects’, reveals that of the 118 projects during the outlook period, upstream projects would be 53, midstream projects would be the highest with 56 projects and petrochemicals at nine.

An Australian-dominated consortium is in line to buy windfarm operator Tilt Renewables for nearly $3 billion.The consortium of Queensland Investment Corp., AGL Energy, Australia's Future Fund, and Mercury Energy will pay $7.80 a share for Tilt, which has windfarms on both sides of the Tasman. Tilt was effectively put on the block last year when its two-thirds owner Infratil announced a review of its investment.

BP plc decided to shut Australia's biggest refinery. After the decision was made Exxon Mobil Corp persuaded the Australian government to provide some backing to oil refineries for continuous run. The Australian government has initiated to offer $1.6 billion in incentives to the refining industry for over 10 years to secure the nation's fuel security.

Ancient artefacts have been discovered on the seabed off Australia’s west coast. This discovery has opened up a new frontier for resource companies to look out for in conserving indigenous heritage. In July, archaeologists stumbled upon hundreds of stone tools submerged off the Dampier Archipelago in Western Australia, showing evidence of people living in the area when it was dry land more than 7,000 years ago.

Santos Ltd paid out a weaker than expected half-year dividend amid uncertainty over recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic. Underlying profit slumped to $212 million for the six months to June 30 from $411 million a year earlier. Including $526 million in asset impairments due to weaker long term oil price assumptions, Santos had a first-half net loss of $289 million.