Australia NEWS

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.

ConocoPhillips has completed the sale of its west-Australian business to Santos for $1.39 billion, a major boost to the company’s balance sheet during the economic downturn. The Houston oil major, which announced the sale in October, has received about $765 million in proceeds from the sale during the second quarter. The proceeds are expected to be used for “general corporate purposes,” the company said Wednesday.

BP Australia has announced a feasibility study into an export-scale renewable hydrogen production facility in Western Australia. This will help the energy sector to understand the possibilities of using hydrogen to export renewable energy. The project will include an initial investment from BP of (AUS) $2.7 million, with another $1.7 million by Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA). It has committed to releasing the results of the study to the public.

Diamond Offshore Drilling, which recently went bankrupt, has slapped a lawsuit against Beach Energy Ltd for abruptly ending a drilling contract worth $65 million. Beach Energy ended the agreement, citing that Diamond Offshore couldn't achieve a “contractual milestone to deliver the rig”. The lawsuit filed in Houston asks the court to render the termination notice invalid, on the grounds that the delay was “largely of Beach’s own making”.

Australian E&P firm, Santos Ltd registered a 13% decline in the first-quarter revenue yesterday due to lower realized prices for oil and gas, but assured about sufficient liquidity and debt headroom to tackle the recent market crash. Santos posted $883 million in revenue from $1.02 billion a year ago. Total production from the firm dropped to 17.9 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe), down from 18.4 mmboe last year.

EPC giant, TechnipFMC has been awarded an integrated engineering, procurement, construction and installation (iEPCI) contract by Woodside. The scope of the contract includes the development of the Lambert Deep field and Phase 3 of the Greater Western Flank fields. The contract will require TechnipFMC to carry out the design, manufacture, delivery and installation of subsea equipment, including a subsea production system (SPS).

Australian E&P major, Santos has inked a non-binding agreement with oil supermajor, BP which will pave the path for A$20 million investment in Australia's Moomba carbon capture and storage (CCS) project. The project aims at capturing 1.7 million tonnes of carbon dioxide currently separated from natural gas at the Moomba gas processing plant each year. This captured carbon will be then reinjected into the same geological formations.

Puma Energy has informed that it will sell its Australian commercial and retail fuels business to Chevron Australia for A$425 million. Puma is the retail and midstream arm of Trafigura. The company has taken this decision amidst pressure to rebalance its books after a decade-long buying spree. "The acquisition will provide Chevron with a stable market for production volumes from our refining joint ventures in Asia", said Chevron.

Woodside will delay the final approval date for its mega Browse gas project. Also, the company has decided to bring in the plans to sign off on its smaller Scarborough project. Woodside is focusing on the final investment decision on the $20.5 billion Browse project in the first half of 2021. In early 2020, it will sign off on the $11 billion Scarborough gas project and Pluto LNG expansion.

ConocoPhillips has farmed out its northern Australian business to Santos Ltd in a $1.39 billion deal. The acquisition, which will boost Santos’ output by 25%, is second in the line of major acquisitions made by the Australian firm this year. While ConocoPhillips will let go of the Darwin LNG plant and gas fields off northern Australia, it will hold onto its stakes in the Australia Pacific LNG plant in Queensland.

Canadian EPC major, SNC-Lavalin has secured a contract from Shell Australia for the provision of operations and maintenance workforce for the QGC upstream asset. The three-year-long contract will see SNC-Lavalin providing approximately 300 personnel to continue the existing operation and maintenance program for Shell. The QGC asset comprises of 24 field compression stations, six central gas processing plants (CPP), five sales stations and one power station.

Mitsui has decided to sell its 35% stakes in Australian BassGas project. Rothschild is advising the Japanese company on the proposed disposal. Mitsui's share of output from the BassGas in the year to June 2019 was approx 1.1 million barrels of oil equivalent. It has come up with the sale plan at the same time when Exxon has out its ageing Bass Strait oil and gas assets up for sale.

Chinese oil major, CNPC has entered into a contract to supply diesel to Arrow Energy, its Australian JV. The three years long contract will enable CNPC to increase refined oil product sales in Australia, the Chinese oil major said in a statement. Australia’s coal seam gas producer, Arrow Energy is jointly owned by CNPC and Royal Dutch Shell, and was acquired in 2010.

Australia’s clean energy regulator today said that the country has achieved its 2020 target for producing electricity from large-scale renewable energy ahead of schedule. The achievement for Australia has come despite the slow wind and solar investment, and more than a decade of climate policy uncertainty. The target first set in 2001 aimed at producing 33,000 GWh of power from large-scale renewable energy by 2020.

Chevron Corp yesterday informed about launching one of the world’s largest carbon capture and storage projects. The project involves infusing carbon dioxide into a deep reservoir under an island off Western Australia at Chevron’s Gorgon LNG project. Chevron said that approximately 3.4 to 4 million tonnes of CO2 will be buried every year after the facility reaches full capacity. Gases emitted from the Gorgon field contain at least 14% CO2.

Australian E&P firm, Woodside Petroleum registered lower revenue in the second-quarter earnings released yesterday. Woodside saw a 32% dip in revenues, the first decline in the last six quarters. Revenue dropped over the extension in the maintenance period at the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility and weaker prices. Woodside recorded a lower production for the quarter at 17.3 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe).

Australian energy firm, Santos Ltd has registered record gas production in the second quarter, supported by stronger output across its gas assets. Santos recorded a jump from 14.2 mmboe last year to 18.6 mmboe. The production figure beat analysts’ expectation of 17.78 mmboe. Santos also saw a jump in sales for the three-month period to 22.4 mmboe from 19.1 mmboe in the previous year, producing $959 million in revenue.