LNG

Williams Companies, a leading US natural gas pipelines operator, reported strong third-quarter results and a 10 percent increase in net profits as projects progressed including the provision of feed-gas to Gulf Coast LNG export plants.

Chevron Corp., one of the world’s leading LNG production companies with three operated plants in Australia and Angola, said it would spend $14 billion in 2021, mainly targeted at its upstream activities, including the US shale assets in the Permian Basin.

Chevron Corp., the US major and operator of two world-class LNG export plants in Western Australia, has agreed to acquire Houston-based Noble Energy and its assets in US shale basins and the East Mediterranean, including the Leviathan and Tamar gas fields offshore Israel.

Noble Energy of the US said it was still actively exploring a floating LNG export project using East Mediterranean resources from the Leviathan gas field offshore Israel while its LNG production venture in Equatorial Guinea in West Africa was progressing.

Occidental Petroleum, the Texas-based company competing with Chevron Corp. to take over Anadarko Petroleum for around $55 billion including debt, has improved the structure of its offer and said it would sell Anadarko’s Mozambique LNG stake and other African assets to French major Total if its deal was accepted.

Occidental’s latest offer would amount to 78 percent cash and 22 percent in Occidental shares, rather than the previous 50-50 split.

Occidental is trying to persuade Anadarko shareholders to accept its offer rather than a merger agreement with Chevron, which is structured as a 75 percent stock and 25 percent cash deal.

“The revised offer creates immediate value for Anadarko shareholders and increases the chances of closing a deal,” said Occidental.

“In connection with Occidental’s proposal to acquire Anadarko, it has entered into a binding agreement to sell Anadarko’s Algeria, Ghana, Mozambique and South Africa assets to Total for $8.8Bln,” added the company.

“The sale is contingent upon Occidental entering into and completing its proposal to acquire Anadarko, and would be expected to close simultaneously or as soon as reasonably practicable afterwards,” stated Occidental.

Anadarko also issued a statement after the revised May 5 offer from Occidental when it referred to the still valid merger agreement with Chevron.

“In accordance with the terms of the Chevron Merger Agreement, and in consultation with its financial and legal advisors, Anadarko's board of directors will carefully review Occidental's Revised Proposal to determine the course of action that it believes is in the best interest of the company's stockholders,” said Anadarko.

Anadarko first announced on April 11 that it had received a takeover bid of $33Bln from Chevron, amounting to $50Bln if debt is included, and the signing of a formal merger agreement.

Anadarko, whose headquarters are near Houston, is being target because of its strength in US shale production, especially in the Delaware Basin of Texas and New Mexico. Its other main US assets are in Colorado and the Gulf of Mexico.

It also owns valuable assets in deep water oil and gas and LNG, including the onshore development in Mozambique.

Anadarko had said it was positioned to take a final investment decision on Mozambique LNG in the first half of this year.

The Anadarko-led Mozambique venture will be the African nation’s first onshore development, initially consisting of two liquefaction Trains with nameplate capacity of 12.9 million tonnes per annum.

Feed-gas would come from the Golfinho-Atum gas fields located within Anadarko’s offshore Area 1 licence of the Rovuma Basin. 

The Mozambique liquefaction plant is being built near the port of Pemba in the northeast Cabo Delgado Province.

Analysts said the revised terms and LNG accord with Total could now force Chevron to consider making an improved offer.

Analysts noted that Chevron is a substantial LNG player and operates two world-class plants in Western Australia and would fit with Anadarko’s development plans for Mozambique.

Occidental, a major North American chemicals manufacturer, has no LNG assets and is centred on US oil and gas as well as midstream, marketing and refining.

France’s Total is now hoping that the Occidental takeover bid for Anadarko is successful.

“If completed, the acquisition offers us the opportunity to acquire a world-class portfolio of assets in Africa, further enhancing our position as the leading IOC on the continent,” said Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne.

“We would be able to leverage our expertise in LNG by operating a major project in Mozambique and in Deepwater in Ghana and we would become operator of major Algerian oil assets where we are already a partner,” he explained.

“We would also be able to generate value through adding volumes to our growing LNG portfolio where we are already the second-largest private player,” added the CEO.

In South Africa, the exploration licences from Anadarko are close to Total’s recent Brulpadda discovery.

Noble Energy, the US exploration and production company, has reported that its liquefied natural gas feed-gas plans for offshore Israel and Equatorial Guinea were on track.

Noble Energy, the US exploration and production company with interests offshore the East Mediterranean and Equatorial Guinea, reported higher annual sales and said the first phase of the Leviathan project offshore Israel was on track.

Anadarko Petroleum Corp, the US oil and natural gas producer onshore and in the Gulf of Mexico, posted a first-quarter net profit as it also made continued progress on the Mozambique LNG export project in southeast Africa.

Dec 12 (LNGJ) - Wood Group of the UK, the international energy services company, is providing construction and project management to Discovery DJ Services across a multi-phase installation of an oil and gas gathering system and natural gas and liquid processing facility in the Niobrara shale region of the DJ Basin of the US state of Colorado. “This is Discovery’s first gas plant in Colorado and we are committed to leveraging our differentiated onshore US footprint and long track record of project delivery to successfully support this key asset,” said Robin Watson, Wood’s Chief Executive. The project includes the recently completed project management, fabrication and construction of about 60 miles of 12-inch and 8-inch pipeline for the gathering system with capacity for 60 million cubic feet per day of natural gas.

Noble Energy, the US company with assets in key US basins and offshore Israel, said the business progressed in the third quarter as new US wells came on stream, Israeli natural gas production hit records and the Leviathan field in the East Mediterranean advanced towards completion in 2019 when it would reduce LNG needs in Jordan.