LNG

Australian natural gas explorer Elixir Energy has given a positive update on expanding activities in Queensland’s onshore Bowen Basin, which supplies feed gas for LNG plants and could potentially help avert a security of supply crisis on the East Coast.

Several Australian exploration and production companies have signalled an imminent East Coast natural gas supply crunch while the approach of the Southern Hemisphere winter in June has already brought heavy rains and disrupted gas operations amid warnings that there was not enough new feed-gas developments for the three LNG export plants in Queensland.

Elixir Energy, the Australian exploration and production company with coal-seam gas interests in the Gobi Basin of Mongolia, is also making progress with asset development in the Australian state of Queensland where it is hoping to discover sufficient CSG for liquefaction and export.

Santos, the Australian operator of the Gladstone and Darwin LNG projects and with a portfolio in Papua New Guinea, reported a more than three-fold increase in net profits of US$2.11 billion, a reward for its years of investment in the industry.

Sept 21 (LNGJ) - Origin Energy, the Australian utility, has agreed to sell its 100 percent interest in its Beetaloo Basin shale gas assets in the Northern Territory. Origin said it was exiting its upstream exploration permits but would share any future profits and would retain its valuable Australia Pacific LNG stake in Queensland where it is upstream feed-gas provider and ConocoPhillips is the plant operator.

   The Sydney-based utility said agreements had been reached to sell the Beetaloo assets to Australia’s Tamboran Resources and its partners for A$60 million (US$40.2M) and with a royalty on future production over the life of the field. “Origin has also executed a gas sale agreement for offtake of future gas production,” it added.

Origin Energy, the Australian natural gas and utility business and holder of a one-third share in the Australia-Pacific LNG plant in Queensland, saw annual commodities revenues jump 80 percent as the facility shipped its 700th cargo to North Asia in January 2022.

Sembcorp Marine of Singapore said it signed a contract with US engineering company Bechtel for module assembly of the second liquefaction Train proposed for Woodside’s Pluto LNG export project in Western Australia.

March 15 (LNGJ) - Royal Dutch Shell has completed the sale of a 26.25 percent stake in the Queensland Curtis LNG export plant near Gladstone QGC for US$2.5 billion. The buyer was Global Infrastructure Partners Australia.

   Shell said the sale was consistent with the Anglo-Dutch company’s strategy of selling non-core assets to simplify the portfolio. “The sale will contribute to Shell’s expected divestment proceeds, without impact on people or the operations of the QCLNG venture,” said Shell, which acquired the LNG project after taking over BG Group.

Australian LNG exporter Santos reported a boost in reserves and resources available for two of its liquefaction plants, the Gladstone facility on Curtis Island in Queensland and Darwin LNG in the Northern Territory.

Royal Dutch Shell has sold a minority stake in a Queensland Curtis LNG export plant subsidiary in Queensland, the first coal-seam-gas-to-LNG facility to come on stream in 2014 and whose other project shareholder include China National Offshore Oil Corp.