Unnecessary litigation scaring foreign investors

Of recoverable reserves through improved recovery rate gas fields of Japan's largest and "Minami Nagaoka Gas Field" The '20 extended pic.twitter.com/u28yaz9gfh more condensate production of 3100 barrels of gas and 1.23 million cubic feet Nissan (light oil) from 1984 in the extension of the production period and increase Minami Nagaoka gas field, collected http://www.inpex.co.jp/news/pdf/2014/ than the atmospheric depth of 5,000 meters from about 4,000 underground gas fields of Japan's largest INPEX held 20140919.pdf ... Of recoverable reserves through improved recovery rate gas fields in the country's largest "Minami Nagaoka Gas Field" And increase the extension of the production period (inform) INPEX Corporation (hereinafter, the Company), we are working on the development and production business, which is the gas field in the country's largest "Minami Nagaoka Gas Field" as (Operator) operations principal. For the same gas field, to start the production and condensate natural gas (especially light crude oil) than in 1984, we have stable production over 30 years now, but this time, improvement of the recovery rate of the gas field we've decided that a main purpose the extension of production period and the accompanying increase in recoverable reserves by, to undertake facility expansion of Koshiji Koshijihara original plant that is doing the refining and processing of natural gas (※) , I will inform you. Facilities to improve the gas delivery capacity of the well, such as separator and (※) booster It is a gas field of the nation's largest located in the inland of 10 kilometers south-west of Nagaoka, Niigata Prefecture, Minami Nagaoka gas field, producing a condensate of about 3,100 barrels per day of natural gas and about 123 million scf per day get off. The 20 further from the current assumptions also for the production period to improve the recovery rate of the gas fields by equipment enhancement of Koshijihara plant to undertake this time, recoverable reserves of natural gas, crude oil and condensate, and also increased by approximately 20% it is extended about a little less than a year, to contribute to the gas supply stable and our efficient use and effective of valuable domestic energy resources is expected. Natural gas produced from the Minami-Nagaoka gas field, refining and processing at Oyazawa your Yazawa plant and Koshijihara plant It is, total length about spread to Kantokoshin'etsu held by the Company It has been supplied to customers through the natural gas pipeline network of 1,400 km. The Company, in order to cope with domestic natural gas demand that strong growth is expected in the future, in addition to new and enhancement of core pipeline, along the "INPEX medium and long-term vision", our company developed and manufactured overseas we are working to establish ties organically infrastructure of domestic natural gas business and the LNG business of "gas supply chain." So as to promote the effective use of further domestic energy resources, you can use with peace of mind the natural gas environmentally friendly to everyone more over a long period of time, we will continue to strive. Or more ========================= 世界最大日立ＬＮＧタンクの約1600㌧の屋根を５時間かけて持ち上げた ＬＮＧタンクの底部で組み上げた屋根を、空気の圧力で押し上げる工事（エアレイ­ジング）が行われた Lifted over 5 hours of roof about 1600㌧ the world's largest Hitachi LNG tank Was performed (air lasing) Construction boost pressure of the air, the roof is assembled at the bottom of the LNG tank... The 15th (not / equivalent) Fifth Pier Port of Hitachi, Ibaraki, Minato-ku, Tokyo Gas was published in the press Hitachi LNG under construction in (Hitachi City Tome-machi) and (liquefied natural gas) base. Has been performed (air Raging) construction over about four and a half hours from 8:00, by pushing up with the pressure of the air, the roof was assembled at the bottom of the LNG tank this day. It is aimed at running of March 2016 in the company. LNG tank about 86m ㍍ diameter, about 59m ㍍ height. In 230 000 liters ㌔㍑ that the world's largest as aboveground tank, storage capacity can be supplied to city gas equivalent to about 340 000 hotels of annual usage of household. 180,000 liters ㌔㍑ in aboveground, the largest, was 250,000 liters ㌔㍑ is of the type in which the underground until now. The roof is about 1600 tons ㌧ weight. Is fed from the air blower, and is pushed up to a height of about 38m ㍍ over 4 and a half hours. According to the company, raised roof construction of the LNG tank by the air Raging is the first time in the prefecture. Has three factories in the Tokyo Bay in the company, the base is four places first. It will strive to strengthen supply in South North Kanto and Tohoku in the establishment of the base, there is also the aim of hedging against disasters such as capital Earthquake. And seawalls of 8m ㍍ above sea level, etc. hit the pilings to bedrock underground 60m ㍍ the structure, the base is also to strengthen the preparedness for earthquake and tsunami. Construction began on July 12, 60% has been completed. In addition to the LNG tank, I will develop a large pier and dedicated LPG vessels and tanks (50,000 liters ㌔㍑). Pipeline connecting the existing pipeline of Tochigi Prefecture Moka and the same base total project cost - including the cost of laying "Ibaraki Tochigi trunk", is about 120 billion yen. 東京ガスは15日、茨城港日立港区の第５埠頭（ふ／とう）（日立市留町）に建設中の日­立ＬＮＧ（液化天然ガス）基地を報道陣に公開した。この日は午前８時から約４時間半掛­けて、ＬＮＧタンクの底部で組み上げた屋根を、空気の圧力で押し上げる工事（エアレイ­ジング）が行われた。同社では２０１６年３月の稼働を目指している。 　ＬＮＧタンクは直径約86㍍、高さ約59㍍。貯蔵能力は地上式タンクとして世界最大と­なる23万㌔㍑で、一般家庭の年間使用量の約34万軒に相当する都市ガスを供給できる­。これまで最大のものは、地上式で18万㌔㍑、地下に埋設するタイプでは25万㌔㍑だ­った。 　屋根は重さ約１６００㌧。送風機から空気を送り込み、４時間半掛けて約38㍍の高さま­で押し上げられた。同社によると、エアレイジングによるＬＮＧタンクの屋根上げ施工は­県内では初めて。 　同社では東京湾岸に３工場を有し、同基地は４カ所目。同基地の新設で北関東や南東北で­の供給力強化を図るとともに、首都直下地震など災害に対するリスクヘッジの狙いもある­。同基地も海抜８㍍の防潮堤と、構造物には地下60㍍の岩盤までくいを打つなど、津波­や地震への備えを強化している。 　工事は12年７月に着手し、６割が完了している。ＬＮＧタンクのほか、ＬＰＧタンク（­５万㌔㍑）や専用船の大型桟橋などを整備する。総事業費は同基地と栃木県真岡市の既存­パイプラインを結ぶパイプライン「茨城―栃木幹線」の敷設費も含め、約１２００億円と­なっている。 6-10-1 Roppongi Minato-ku, Tokyo www.robuchon.com =============== Unnecessary litigation scaring foreign investors By Zafar BhuttaPublished: July 27, 2014 US authorities took up the Mashal LNG case with the Pakistan government and asked it to come up with sustainable policies in order to protect the interest of investors. PHOTO: FILE ISLAMABAD: Foreign investors, discouraged by sometimes unnecessary litigation, are gradually losing interest in Pakistan, putting future capital flows into the country at stake. To avert the trend and woo investors, the government needs to mull over establishing audit or corporate courts in order to swiftly address the issues faced by local and foreign companies. Many international oil and gas companies have pulled out by winding up their operation in the wake of dispute with the government over different issues. Most of them are fighting tax cases in courts. The country has lost an opportunity to bring cheaper liquefied natural gas (LNG) supplies at $11 per million British thermal units (mmbtu) under the Mashal project while in copper and gold mining Tethyan Copper Company (TCC) has approached an international court. In the area of liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), Progas filed a case in the international court, claiming damages of $500 million and blaming its losses on a shift in government’s policy. In this scenario, experts suggest the government should dissolve the National Accountability Bureau (NAB) and strengthen the Auditor General of Pakistan in matters pertaining to investigation into business deals. The time is ripe to set up audit and banking courts so that the auditor general could pursue cases as NAB has been used and influenced by different governments for victimisation. Present courts have no expertise in dealing with business disputes as happened in the case of Mashal LNG project where the apex court asked the Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Resources to take it up for reconsideration before the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet. In a case relating to a scam in the Oil and Gas Regulatory Authority (Ogra), NAB was coming up with different stories as initially it claimed a Rs82-billion scandal in the decision on increasing the unaccounted-for-gas (UFG) ceiling from 5% to 7%. However, in a fresh reference, it said the size of the scam was Rs26 billion, leading people to raise questions over the probe conducted by the bureau. It also filed two different investigation reports which were challenged in court. In the first report, which took two and a half years, there was no allegation on a big brokerage house. However, in the second report which took only a few days, its name was included while some big names were removed. This came despite the fact that the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan ruled out in May 2013 any insider trading by stock brokers in shares of gas companies and a report in this regard was presented to the policy board. However, the report was later dumped. Investor concerns Some major foreign investors like the US and UK also questioned the legal system in Pakistan, in particular they objected to court cases against foreign firms in the Mashal LNG project. In their view, things like these send bad signals to foreign investors. Officials say the US authorities took up the Mashal case with the Pakistan government and asked it to come up with sustainable policies in order to protect the interest of investors. With the Mashal episode in investors’ minds, the previous government conducted roadshows in an effort to attract investors to bid for hydrocarbon exploration licences, but no new foreign company expressed interest in the auction of exploration blocks held in March 2013. International donors are also concerned about court cases. Top officials of the Asian Development Bank once told journalists that they were against the setting up of rental power plants, but the government should have honoured the agreements once they were made with the investors. The investors are already shy of making investment in the country over law and order concerns and to encourage them the government should dissolve NAB, strengthen the auditor general and establish audit or corporate courts. Published in The Express Tribune, July 28th, 2014. Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.

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”. =================================

Santos, BG to link Australia LNG pipelines in bid to cut costs

Thu, Jul 04 01:18 AM EDT By Rebekah Kebede PERTH, July 4 (Reuters) - Australia's Santos Ltd and BG Group PLC agreed on Thursday to link their major gas pipelines, allowing them to buy, sell, and swap gas supplies - a move that will help slash costs at a time when they have been hit by budget overruns. The long-awaited first step toward collaboration between three coal seam gas to LNG projects under construction on Australia's seaboard should result in savings of hundreds of millions of dollars, according to Santos. The connection between the two projects' pipelines will also allow upstream gas field operations to continue when their liquefied natural gas plants are shut for routine maintenance. "We're spending less than $50 million on this, but we think it will generate savings over the long term of many times that," Rod Duke, Santos vice president of Gladstone LNG Downstream, told Reuters. "We expect that this will be just one of many mutually beneficial arrangements across the industry in the future," Duke said. Santos, BG, and Origin Energy are leading the construction of three separate coal seam gas to LNG projects on Queensland's Curtis Island at a total cost of more than A$60 billion ($54 billion) but have been criticized for failing to collaborate and save costs. Santos' Gladstone LNG project has seen its costs jump around 15 percent from $16 billion to $18.5 billion, while BG's Queensland Curtis Island LNG has seen a 36 percent blowout to $20.4 billion from $15 billion, mostly due to a strong Australian dollar. There may also be collaboration with Arrow LNG, a fourth coal seam gas to LNG project that is a joint venture between Royal Dutch Shell and PetroChina , although the project appears to have stalled. This year, Origin Energy offered Arrow the opportunity to work together on the expansion of its A$24.7 billion plant under construction on Curtis Island. ================ Entire Pakistan is talking of this Mega corruption carried out by hungry rulers from PML-N, but shameless brothers are least bothered.They are bent upon doling out such huge amounts of this poor cash starved country without any certification or Audits just in haste to fill their own pockets. The unfortunate part of this episode is that despite such hue & cry from all over the country on these payments, our Mr. Suo-Moto is sleeping as nothing is happening around. The mega corruption of Rs 100 billion in clearing circular debt By Shafiq Awan ISLAMABAD: PML N stalwart will earn Rs 100 billion as commission out of total payment of circular debt 500 billion. The said stalwart is a family member of Mian Nawaz Sharif and holds an important ministry at federal government. He is said to be the caretaker of Mian Nawaz sharif’s finnical interest. Sources disclosed that after this deal it was decided to clear all the circular debt. The political circles and financial experts were surprised to know how a huge amount of 500 billion rupees was set to clear within months. Later it was disclosed by a CEO of an energy company that this was decided after paying 20 percent commission. However he admitted that during past regime this commission was between 10 to 15 percent but PML N Government raised this ratio with the promise of more benefits to the companies. He was hopeful that through 20 percent commission their payments would not be held in future and they would be accommodated in rates as well. He further disclosed that this deal was struck during the recent visit of the Energy and the said Minister to UAE. Sources further disclosed that all the payments have been made in advance in UAE. The said CEO admitted the commission is a routine matter but 5 percent addition by the current regime is the only difference. Sources disclosed that a commission of 20 percent was settled between the Energy companies and PML N to clear the debt. The energy companies were insisting to fix the rate up to the 15 percent but later it was mutually agreed to 20 percent with the commitment that no more companies would not be asked to pay further amount to any government functionaries including ministers. Sources disclosed the Minister related to Energy and power Sector demanded the companies for his share but he was told this job is related to Finance Ministry so he could not be accommodated in this deal as it has nothing to deal with the production of electricity or fixing the rates. Later the said Minister was asked not to interfere in this matter. But his cronies continued pressurizing the energy companies after he was warned again and at a moment he was about to replaced but he was advised to behave and ultimately he decided to surrender. Sources disclosed that the said Minister interfered on the behest of family MNA of Sharifs. Talks underway with India over LNG imports News Comments (0) Online50 min ago | Comments (0) NEW DELHI - Talks between India and Pakistan to export natural gas from the former to the latter through a pipeline are underway. State gas utility GAIL’s Chairman and Managing Director B Tripathi proposed to lay a 110 km pipeline from Jalandhar to the Wagah border via Amritsar to supply natural gas to Pakistan. Gas in its liquid form (liquefied natural gas or LNG) will be imported via ports in Gujarat and will be moved through GAIL’s existing pipeline network till Jalandhar. The proposed line will ensure the transfer of gas from Jalandhar to Wagah. “Pakistan has demonstrated interest in taking LNG from us to meet its energy demand and the export is techno-commercially feasible. We can carry the process forward if the government of India approves it and if we can reach a commercial agreement,” Tripathi said. Pakistan initially wanted to import 1-1.5 million tonnes of LNG, however, pricing and other commercial negotiations are currently ongoing, he added. LNG imports to India currently range between $13 and 14 per million British thermal units after including customs or import duty, pipeline transportation charges and local taxes, thus the price upon delivery will be close to $21. Although Pakistan currently does not have an LNG import facility, it is willing to buy LNG from GAIL provided that India exempts it from taxes to bring down the cost.