LNG

New Zealand has reversed a ban on oil and gas exploration introduced by the previous government and will offer incentives for energy and mining company investments similar to those in other pro-fossil fuel energy nations.

Woodside Energy, the key supplier of LNG to North Asia from two operated plants in Western Australia, has shrugged off the rejection at its annual meeting in Perth of a non-binding vote on its climate change policies as several politically-motivated pension funds and advocacy groups voted against it as not going far enough.

French major TotalEnergies has signed an agreement to acquire all of Malaysian independent gas producer and operator Sapura-OMV Upstream, a Malaysian-Austrian joint venture and some of whose feed-gas assets are delivered to the Bintulu LNG plant.

Beach Energy Ltd, the Australian company involved in the Waitsia LNG export project in the onshore Perth Basin of Western Australia and in other natural gas ventures in South Australia and New Zealand, posted a fiscal first-half loss as it awaited major project completions.

Australian company Melbana Energy, which began production testing in October at its Alameda oil field offshore the north coast of Cuba, has delivered first oil from early production testing and was upbeat on future prospects for the Cuban production sharing contract held by operator Melbana in partnership with Sonangol, the national energy company of African LNG producer Angola.

The Australian energy industry has been unsettled by environmental activists using an Aboriginal woman and additionally citing concern for whales and managing to persuade a Federal Court to delay Woodside Energy’s US$12 billion Scarborough gas project for LNG expansion, citing seismic testing approval deficiencies.

The Scarborough gas project is one of the few moving forward in Australia and has been specially targeted by environmental activists who have now succeeded in delaying Woodside’s plans as the previously approved seismic testing programme has now been called into question.

The Australian Federal Court by a decision handed down on September 28 has invalidated approvals given to Woodside by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).

Perth-based Woodside has yet to issue a formal response to the court decision.

Previous ruling

The Supreme Court of Western Australia had previously, in March 2022, dismissed two proceedings brought against the Pluto LNG and Karratha Gas Plant environmental approvals given in 2019.

In the latest hearing, Justice Craig Coleman found that NOPSEMA, did not have the statutory power to accept Woodside’s environment plan because he wasn’t reasonably satisfied that all relevant stakeholders had been consulted, including some local Aboriginals.

The Pluto LNG onshore processing facility is located on the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha in the northwest of Western Australia and the first cargo from the current single-Train facility was delivered in 2012.

The second Train planned using Scarborough field gas will have 5 million tonnes per annum of output and take total nameplate capacity to around 9.2 MTPA.

The Scarborough field is located about 375 kilometres (233 miles) off the coast of Western Australia and is estimated to contain over 11 trillion cubic feet of dry gas.

Aboriginal voice

In the Court decision to delay, the environmentalists had called on an Aboriginal woman named as Raelene Cooper to seek a court injunction to reverse the seismic testing approval, citing opposition from the “traditional custodians” of the Burrup Peninsula who seemingly had never been properly consulted.

After the ruling a statement was released on behalf of Mrs Cooper in which she said she was “elated” by the decision and described the legal win as more than a personal victory.

“I want my mob back home to be empowered by this day today. This is bigger than me,” she said. “It's about my people and our history. We've been forgotten and treated so badly,” the woman added.

“Woodside just came and told us what was happening,” she said. “They never bothered to sit down and listen to Murujuga traditional custodians about the full impacts of their Burrup hub operations on our culture and our sacred song lines,” she stated.

Woodside Energy, the operator of the Northwest Shelf and Pluto LNG export plants in Western Australia, is widening its oil and gas activities in the Gulf of Mexico by moving forward with a joint venture costing more than US$7-billion in partnership with Petróleos Mexicanos (Pemex), the state-owned energy company.

May 31 (LNGJ) - Woodside Energy, the Australian operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG export projects, has completed the award of all major contracts for the decommissioning of subsea infrastructure at the Enfield, Griffin, Stybarrow and Echo Yodel oil and gas fields offshore Western Australia.

   “The upcoming work will follow successful decommissioning activities which have been underway at the Enfield and Balnaves fields since the first quarter of 2022,” said Woodside. “Specialist contractors engaged to undertake activities during the subsea decommissioning campaign include TechnipFMC, Heerema, McDermott, Fugro, DOF and McMahon. A contract for the permanent plug and abandonment of wells in the Stybarrow field has also been awarded to Transocean,” Woodside added.

Hancock Energy, the oil and gas company run by entrepreneur Gina Rinehart, has increased its bid for the Perth Basin natural gas company Warrego Energy by almost 30 percent and has now outbid mining company Mineral Resources for the prize of a gas field stake with LNG feed-gas potential.

Anglo-Australian commodities company BHP and LNG plant operator Woodside Petroleum have worked out the final point for Woodside’s takeover of BHP’s oil and gas portfolio.

BHP told its shareholders that the completion of the merger was on track for June 2022, subject to satisfaction of conditions precedent including approval by Woodside shareholders.

The commodities giant said it was expected to receive 914.8 million newly issued Woodside shares at completion a dividend on Woodside shares would go to BHP shareholders.

BHP shareholders are expected to be entitled to one Woodside Share for every 5.5340 BHP shares they hold on the record date.

Based on Woodside’s share price of US$25.55 at 6 April 2022, the implied value of BHP’s subsidiary BHP Petroleum is US$23.4 billion.

Woodside will retain its primary listing on the Australian Securities Exchange, though the company was seeking a standard listing on the London Stock Exchange and an American Depositary Receipts (ADRs) program on the New York Stock Exchange on completion of the merger.

“A share sale facility will be in place for small BHP shareholders who elect to participate and for shareholders who are ineligible to receive Woodside Shares,” said BHP.

BHP said that all required regulatory and competition approvals have been obtained, other than the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA) approval which is expected prior to completion.

Separate to the receipt of Woodside shares on completion, Woodside will also make a cash payment to BHP of approximately US$830 million in relation to cash dividends paid by Woodside between the merger’s effective date of 1 July 2021 and completion.

This represents the cash dividend that would have been received by holders of the Woodside shares.

BHP in turn will make a cash payment to Woodside for the net cash flow generated by BHP Petroleum between the merger’s effective date of 1 July 2021 and completion.

From the effective date to 31 December 2021 only, this amounts to approximately US$900M.