LNG

UK-based engineering firm Wood Plc has been chosen as lead consultant for an independent study of the next big potential Asia-Pacific LNG export project, the Greater Sunrise Development using gas resources from the Timor Sea.

Australia said that liquefied natural gas demand is expected to increase by just under 2.5 percent in 2024, largely driven by the needs of customers in Asia-Pacific nations and by market dynamics in China.

Asian liquefied natural gas demand is projected to increase in 2024 led by China even amid competition facing gas-fired power from electricity generated in the region by coal and with more pipeline gas heading for the Chinese border from Russia.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the North West Shelf plant and Pluto LNG in Western Australia and still considering a merger with Australia’s Santos, said it welcomed an opportunity offered to contribute to the Australian Government’s development of a future gas strategy.

The Perth-based company said that with more than 200 submissions made to a consultation process undertaken by the Australian Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR), there was a growing recognition of the “pivotal role of gas” at a time when access to secure, affordable and reliable energy supply is becoming increasingly challenging.

“As many submissions identified, gas will play a key role in a responsible energy transition,” said Woodside.

“This was acknowledged by local and state governments, manufacturers, regional customers, power generators, think tanks and policy experts, business and industry groups and unions,” the company added.

Woodside explained that it supported the main objectives of the government strategy and saw them as interrelated goals.

Objectives

The objectives are: providing affordable and reliable energy for Australians; maintaining strategic partnerships and energy security in the region; and simultaneously progressing decarbonisation of trading partners and decarbonisation in Australia.

“Australia has the natural resources to support both the renewable and non-renewable energy developments which will be needed as populations increase and energy consumption rises,” explained Woodside.

“These natural endowments provide Australia with an opportunity to be a regional and global leader in the energy transition,” it added.

However, Woodside said that to achieve these goals the country needed policy settings that would embrace the opportunities presented by a strong Australian gas industry.

“The industry needs fiscal and regulatory stability if it is to continue to take investment risks and develop Australia’s resources,” Woodside declared.

“Government must also provide certainty to workers and businesses, including the Australian manufacturing sector, on the medium-term and long-term role of gas so they can make decisions and invest with confidence,” said the company.

Woodside added that its submission had put forward “practical and constructive” short-term and medium-term recommendations that address issues impacting the gas industry.

“These include improving the regulatory framework to ensure approvals are provided in a timely manner and with certainty. In this respect, it is encouraging that the Commonwealth and the Western Australian State governments are working to ensure there is clarity for all parties around the consultation requirements for offshore developments,” Woodside said.

The Asia-Pacific region is expected to have gradually increasing liquefied natural gas demand, driven by the region's economic recovery and new regasification facilities coming online.

TotalEnergies, the French major with multiple energy and LNG projects under development, has pledged at a two-day meeting of the board to maintain a multi-energy strategy with current Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné at the helm.

The company said the board met on September 20-21 in Paris to review the strategic outlook in the context of “changing energy markets because of the energy transition and evolving geopolitical” events.

TotalEnergies has oil and gas interests from Argentina to Asia and is a leading global LNG market participants. Its immediate LNG plans include developing the huge onshore Mozambique LNG export project,  expanding LNG production in Papua New Guinea and taking part in the liquefaction build-out in Qatar.

Relevance

The board noted the relevance of the company’s balanced multi-energy strategy considering the developments in the oil, gas and electricity markets. 

“Thanks to refocusing the oil and gas portfolio on assets and projects with low breakeven and low greenhouse gas emissions, and to the diversification into electricity, notably renewable, through an integrated strategy from production to customer, the company is in a very favorable position to take advantage of changing energy markets and prices” the board said in a statement.

With a breakeven anchored below $25 a barrel of oil, TotalEnergies said it was a much more “efficient and profitable company today than it was 10 years ago” at the same oil equivalent price.

The board noted that the company managed to generate an additional $15 billion of cash flow in 2022. 

“Thus, by end-2022, the company benefits from a fortress balance sheet and is positioned to both implement its transition strategy and to guarantee an attractive shareholder return policy,” the board added.

Continuity

The board said that while it was reaffirming its support for the “quality and the relevance” of the strategy, which will be presented to investors on September 27, the Board considers as appropriate to ensure the continuity of the company’s governance and leadership.

“The board, thus, considers that it is highly desirable that Patrick Pouyanné, Chairman and CEO, continues to drive this strategy’s deployment at the helm of the company,” the company declared.

“On the proposal of the Governance and Ethics Committee, it has therefore unanimously decided that the renewal of the mandate of Patrick Pouyanné will be proposed to the General Meeting in May 2024,” it said.

Jacques Aschenbroich, the lead independent director at the French major, underlined and also expressed his confidence in the current leadership.

“Since 2014, Patrick has done an extraordinary job leading TotalEnergies in a complex environment, delivering outstanding financial results and engaging the company in the energy transition quicker and stronger than its peers,” said Aschenbroich. 

“The board unanimously looks forward to his continued leadership and his strategic vision,” stated Aschenbroich.

The former BP Statistical Review of World Energy was handed over this week for its 72nd edition to the UK-based Energy Institute (EI), the chartered body for the energy industry and which will be the new custodian of the Review carrying the latest data from LNG to coal and renewables.

Indonesian state-owned oil and gas company Pertamina is preparing to acquire Shell’s stake in the Masela natural gas block that will underpin the Abadi LNG export project in Indonesia and boost future cargo availability in the Pacific Basin, while Shell is also selling all its assets in Pakistan in a pull-out from Asia's more difficult areas to do business.

Australian liquefied natural gas plant operator Santos reported a decline in LNG sales income as production and Asia-Pacific prices fell and the Darwin plant continued to suffer feed-gas issues.

Dynagas LNG Partners, the owner of six liquefied natural gas carriers and mostly involved in Russian cargo liftings, reported an increase in net income for 2022.