Australia's Santos reports 2 pct dip in Q1 production

Australia's Santos reports 2 pct dip in Q1 production Thu, Apr 18 20:07 PM EDT SYDNEY, April 19 (Reuters) - Australia's Santos Ltd , the country's No.2 energy firm, said on Thursday its production dipped 2 percent to 12.1 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) in the first quarter. Santos maintained production guidance of between 53 and 57 mmboe for 2013 and said its capital expenditure for the year would remain at $4 billion. Gas production of 9.1 mmboe was in line with the same period a year ago, with higher Otway Basin production offset by lower production from the Cooper Basin due to major planned shutdowns. Quarterly crude oil production of 2 million barrels was down 19 percent, partly due to lower production from Stag and the Cooper Basin. Santos said its $19 billion Exxon Mobil -led PNG LNG project and its flagship $18.5 billion Gladstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project are on track for first LNG in 2014 and 2015, respectively. The Moomba-191 unconventional shale well, which became the country's first commercially producing shale gas well in September, was flowing at an average rate of 2.3 standard cubic feet per day as at the end of the quarter, the company said. That is slightly below the average 2.5 million standard cubic feet per day it reported at the end of the year. Four new exploration wells are planned for 2013. (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede; Editing by Richard Pullin) =============== Chevron Corp latest oil major to make Australian shale bet Sun, Feb 24 21:05 PM EST PERTH, Feb 25 (Reuters) - The U.S.-based Chevron Corp became the latest in a string of oil majors that have decided to invest in Australian shale, announcing on Monday that it has bought interest in two gas blocks in the Cooper Basin from Beach Energy. Chevron said it will initially acquire a 30 percent working interest in block PEL 218 in South Australia, and 18 percent working interest in block ATP 855 in Queensland. The deal gives Chevron the option of later increasing its interest in PEL 218 to 60 percent and the interest in ATP 855 to 36 percent. Beach Energy will receive up to $349 million over two stages spanning several years for interest in the two gas blocks, Beach Energy said in a statement. "The Cooper Basin is an established petroleum producing basin and provides the opportunity to leverage our expertise in tight gas," Roy Krzywosinski, Chevron Australia managing director, said, adding that it could also add to the company's natural gas portfolio. The Cooper Basin is considered to be one of Australia's best prospects for commercially producing shale gas given its proximity to the country's eastern population centres and export infrastructure at the port of Gladstone. Santos became the first to commercially produce shale gas from the Cooper Basin late last year from its Moomba-191 well, in which Beach Energy holds an interest. Chevron is currently building two of Australia's largest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plants, Gorgon and Wheatstone, with a combined capacity of nearly 25 million tonnes per annum, in Western Australia. Chevron is already a large player in natural gas on Australia's west coast. It is new both to unconventional gas development in Australia as well as to the country's east coast natural gas industry. With the new acquisition, Chevron may also be looking to partner with other gas developers on the east coast, including those developing LNG plants at Queensland state's Gladstone port, Goldman Sachs analysts said in a note to clients Monday. ====================== Australia's Santos underlying profit up by a third Thu, Feb 21 17:25 PM EST SYDNEY, Feb 22 (Reuters) - Australian oil and gas producer Santos reported a 34 percent rise in annual profit after lifting gas production and said its major LNG development projects remained on track. Santos, the country's No. 2 energy firm, posted an underlying profit of A$606 million ($621 million) for 2012, up from A$453 million in 2011 and compared with consensus analysts' forecast of about A$600 million. Santos maintained its 2013 production target at 53-57 million barrels of oil equivalent. Like other gas producers, Santos has been grappling with cost increases on development projects, with the strong Australian dollar a major factor. Rival Origin Energy on Thursday announced a 7 percent hike in costs at its Australia Pacific LNG project. Santos said its $18.5 billion Gladstone coal seam gas to LNG (GLNG) project in Queensland, which is almost half complete, was still on track to start producing LNG in 2015. GLNG has had to purchase additional gas reserves from producers in the area, a move that some industry analysts have interpreted as a sign Santos has not been as successful as it had hoped in proving up gas reserves for its flagship development. Santos said the Exxon Mobil-led $19 billion Papua New Guinea LNG project was also on track to come online in 2014. Santos' Moomba-191 in South Australia's Cooper Basin became the country's first commercially producing shale gas well last year, and was producing at 2.5 million standard cubic feet per day at the end of the year. Four new exploration wells were planned for 2013, Santos said. Larger rival Woodside Petroleum beat analyst expectations with a record full-year net profit on Wednesday after its Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant boosted production. ($1 = 0.9754 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Rebekah Kebede and Lincoln Feast; Editing by John Mair) ================================ Australia's APA wins board backing for $1.5 bln HDF bid Mon, Aug 20 20:36 PM EDT SYDNEY, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Directors of Australia's Hastings Diversified Utilities Fund (HDF) on Tuesday recommended a A$1.4 billion ($1.46 billion) bid by rival gas distributor APA after an alternative suitor bowed out. APA had been fighting Pipeline Partners Australia for control of two key gas pipelines owned by HDF that serve Australia's main onshore gas hub, Moomba. Analysts say growth prospects are strong because of new coal-seam gas projects and huge liquefied natural gas export projects in Queensland state. On Monday, Pipeline Partners bowed out of the race, declining to match APA's higher offer. A subcommittee of HDF independent directors said it was dropping a recommendation of Pipeline Partner's lower bid and was now recommending APA's offer in the absence of a superior proposal. Securities in HDF last traded up 1.2 percent at A$2.59 compared with the implied value of APA's cash and scrip bid of A$2.60. APA shares were up 1.1 percent at A$4.67. Pipeline Partners, a consortium that includes Canadian fund manager Caisse de depot et placement du Quebec (CDPQ) and Utilities Trust of Australia, a fund managed by HDF's manager Hastings Funds Management, had offered A$2.43 per HDF security ($1 = 0.9569 Australian dollars) (Reporting by Lincoln Feast; Editing by Richard Pullin) ================ Chevron nod for more beds Peter Klinger September 25, 2015, 7:12 am Chevron nod for more beds The Wheatstone offloading facility breakwater takes shape. Chevron has received planning approval to enable it to increase its Wheatstone construction workforce near Onslow to more than 9000, which will further spark industry chatter the $US29 billion ($41.5 billion) LNG project is struggling to stick to its budget and schedule. Overcoming opposition from the Wheatstone project site’s billionaire neighbours Andrew and Nicola Forrest, Chevron convinced the Kimberley-Pilbara-Gascoyne Joint Development Assessment Panel (JDAP) of the merits of allowing more than $30 million worth of new infrastructure such as carparks, mess and kitchen areas, exercise venues and toilet blocks to be built. The new infrastructure is necessary to enable Chevron to introduce double-bunking, which lets a day-shift worker and a night-shift colleague share sleeping quarters. Chevron wants a 2000-bed extension to its construction camp, which is being built to take Wheatstone’s accommodation capacity to 7194, to be available for the controversial donga-sharing strategy to effectively provide another 2000 beds. Double-bunking has been fiercely opposed by many workers and unions, which unsuccessfully argued their case before the JDAP on Wednesday. The Forrests, who own the nearby Minderoo station, say the Wheatstone camp has already caused environmental damage, light pollution and cattle to be trapped in temporary fencing and it has disrupted mustering activities. Chevron yesterday insisted no decision on double-bunking had been made. “The JDAP decision will allow us to respond quickly in the event additional accommodation capacity is required during our peak construction period,” a spokesman said. When Chevron and its partners sanctioned Wheatstone’s development in 2011 and flagged first LNG cargoes by the end of 2016, industry estimates for the peak construction workforce were about 5000. In line with every significant resources project in Australia in the past decade, including Chevron’s $US54 billion Gorgon and Inpex’s $US37 billion Ichthys LNG developments, Wheatstone is thought to be struggling to meet the targets set at the time of its development go-ahead. One of the few remedies is to beef up the onsite workforce, at significant cost to the project proponent. Chevron is sticking to its original budget and first-LNG target and points to Wheatstone being “more than 65 per cent complete”. =================================