IS - Shell’s $15B Prelude ships first LNG eight years after FID - July 2019Shell shipped the first long-anticipated cargo of LNG from its Prelude floating
LNG plant off Western Australia’s northern coast. The cargo on the Valencia Knutsen
LNG tanker went to customers in Asia on June 10, eight years after the supermajor
approved the development concept for its Prelude and Concerto discoveries
in Australia’s Browse Basin, which contain an estimated 3 Tcf of gas plus 120
MMbbl of condensate. Delays and cost overruns over the years have pushed
overall capex for the...
Jul 01, 2019
Shell’s Prelude starts production in offshore AustraliaShell’s Prelude, the world’s largest floating LNG vessel, started operations 475 km offshore Australia. The vessel is in its initial phase, ramping up production of gas and condensate through the facility. The vessel has been on location since July, and Shell has been testing and commissioning offshore work before the start of LNG exports, expected in 2019. Once fully operational, Prelude will produce 3.6 mtpa of LNG, 1.3 mtpa of condensate and 0.4 mtpa of LPGs from 250 meters of...
Jan 10, 2019
LNG Canada gives energy sector new confidenceWhile Canadian upstream operators have complained for months that the country’s tax and energy policies discourage investment and make the country less competitive on the international energy scene (PG.3), they universally applauded the announcement that Shell and its partners would commit $40 billion to build the LNG Canada project (PG.1). Some executives said the commitment was a sign of renewed confidence in the country as a whole (PG.3). The deal has already moved financial markets,...
Oct 17, 2018
Santos to boost production 68% by 2025 from five assetsAustralian gas producer Santos unveiled a plan to produce more than 100 MMboe annually or 274,000 boe/d by 2025, up 68% from 163,000 boe/d in 2017. In a presentation to investors, CEO Kevin Gallagher said growth will come from development of five key assets in Papua New Guinea and Australia including the Dorado oil discovery, which is part of the proposed acquisition of Quadrant Energy.Much of this growth is expected to come from Papua New Guinea, where Santos holds 13.5% WI in the...
Oct 11, 2018
Santos sells non-core Asian assets for $221 millionAustralia’s Santos Ltd. pulled the trigger on two assets sales in the last few weeks as it simplifies its business to its five core gas assets in Australia and Papua New Guinea amid EIG Global Partners' vehicle Harbour Energy’s A$13.5 billion ($10.4 billion) proposed acquisition of the company. The largest is the $221 million sale of its non-core Asian portfolio to Southeast Asia-focused Ophir Energy, which results in an exit from Vietnam, Indonesia, Malaysia and Bangladesh. The second...
May 09, 2018
Is the fourth time the charm for EIG Global Partners?Private equity groups continue to seek ways to build investment stakes in the oil and gas market worldwide, and now Washington, DC-based EIG Global Partners’ vehicle Harbour Energy has come back to Australian E&P Santos with A$6.50 ($4.98) a share, or A$13.5 billion ($10.4 billion) to buy the company. If successful, Harbour CEO Linda Cook told the Financial Times it would be the largest private equity-backed oil and gas deal ever.Harbour has been interested in acquiring longtime...
Apr 16, 2018
Harbour Energy makes $10.4 billion offer for SantosAustralian E&P Santos Energy received a US$10.4 billion (A$13.5 billion) takeover offer from EIG Global Partners’ vehicle US-based Harbour Energy, marking the fourth offer Harbour has made for Australia’s third-largest gas producer since last August. A deal would support Harbour’s vision of becoming a leading global LNG company and would be the largest-ever private equity-backed oil and gas transaction, Harbour CEO Linda Cook told Bloomberg. The offer price of A$6.50 (US$4.98) per share...
Apr 04, 2018
Shell’s mammoth Prelude heads to operational statusShell is closing in on first gas from its Prelude LNG project off Western Australia. All major construction at the development’s floating LNG unit has been completed, noted Shell’s Prelude VP at an Australian O&G conference recently, and all that remains to be done is the wrapping up of commissioning activities before gas can be introduced to the unit’s LNG trains and liquefaction can begin in a few months.Prelude FLNG commercializes the recoverable 2.0-3.3 that lies at Prelude Field,...
Apr 03, 2018
Gladstone partners eye upstream work in QueenslandSantos and its Gladstone LNG partners will spend $708 million in 2018 on upstream projects in Queensland, Australia. The biggest chunk will support the first year of work at Roma East in Block ATP-336P and Production License 4. There, 129 MMcf/d will be put on stream over the next three years by bringing on line 480 wells and drilling 430 new wells. Roma East will also see installation of 113 MMcf/d of compression capacity.Elsewhere, Santos will likely drill more infill wells at...
Mar 07, 2018
LNG Canada FID delayed indefinitely on low global pricesGlobal market uncertainty has led to the indefinite delay of the Shell-led LNG Canada project at Kitimat, BC. The project was the furthest along to development of 20 proposed LNG export projects in the province and had been eyeing an FID around YE16. However, the project’s builders now say they can’t confirm when the decision would be made, citing capital constraints due to dropping prices and other industry challenges. The project could cost up to $50 billion to build and would export an...
Jul 11, 2016
Santos’ starts up Train 2 at Australian GLNGSantos’ GLNG project on Curtis Island, Queensland, Australia, has begun producing LNG from Train 2 of the two-train project, which has already produced more than 2 mtpa and shipped 32 cargoes since the first train began production last September. The GLNG project draws feedstock from Queensland’s coal seams in the Surat and Bowen basins, ships it ashore via a 260-mile gas-transmission pipeline and converts it to LNG at a 7.8 mtpa plant near Gladstone.This was Santos’ first...
Jun 10, 2016
Santos brings GLNG Train 2 on streamThe second train at Santos’ Gladstone LNG project is up and running. Train 2’s addition of 3.9 mtpa doubles the Queensland, Australia, facility’s total capacity to 7.8 mtpa and comes just eight months after Santos started up Train 1. Gladstone’s gas is sourced from onshore reserves in Queensland’s Surat and Bowen basins in Roma, Scotia Arcadia and Fairview fields.Australian regulators recently approved Santos’ plans to drill 6,100 more gas wells in the Surat and Bowen basins to support...
May 26, 2016
Conoco puts third Curtis Island LNG plant to salesConocoPhillips put Train 1 of its $8.5 billion Australia-Pacific LNG project on Curtis Island in Queensland, Australia, to sales in January. Exports from the facility had been expected in mid-December, but last-minute delays pushed sail away of first LNG back by more than two weeks. Train 1 has 4.5-mtpa capacity, and when joined by Train 2 in 2H16 the facility’s output will be pushed to 9 mtpa. APLNG produces from 42 Tcf of onshore coalbed methane resources piped in from Australia’s...
Jan 12, 2016
Santos turns down takeover offer from Scepter PartnersDespite being beaten up by low prices, Santos Energy is not interested in a takeover offer from sovereign wealth-backed Scepter Partners. Scepter recently lobbed in an offer of A$6.88 per share, valuing Santos at US$5.2 billion (A$7.2 billion). The offer is a 26% premium to the prior-day closing price of Santos and a 38% premium to the one-month volume-weighted average trading price of the company; however, the board still labeled it as opportunistic and recommended that shareholders vote...
Nov 03, 2015
LNG Briefs - November 05, 2015In a 20-year agreement worth up to $10 billion, BP has made a deal with power company China Huadian Corp. to ship 1 mtpa of LNG to the country, according to Bloomberg. The LNG-hungry continent is expected to account for more than 70% of global demand for the liquefied gas. BP is involved with several LNG projects around the world, including the Browse project in Australia with Woodside.Indonesia’s RGE Group has received a conditional blessing of the Squamish First Nation for its planned...
Nov 05, 2015