LNG

April 12 (LNGJ) - Subsea7 S.A., the oil and gas services company listed on the Oslo exchange in Norway, has won a sizeable contract from Texas-based Talos Energy for the Sunspear development in Green Canyon Block 78 in the Gulf of Mexico. “The project involves the subsea tie back of one production well at Sunspear to the Prince platform. Subsea7 will install the flowline and related subsea equipment at 500 metre water depths,” said Subsea7.

   Subsea7’s Houston office will oversee project management and installation engineering with offshore work scheduled to begin later this year. “This award further strengthens our strategic partnership with Talos Energy, enabling early-stage collaboration for faster, more predictable project delivery,” said Craig Broussard, Vice President for Subsea7 Gulf of Mexico.

Talos Energy, the US oil and gas company, has acquired the operator QuarterNorth Energy in a $1.29 billion cash and stock deal to boost its presence in the Gulf of Mexico in the latest of a long list of US energy industry mergers and acquisitions that included several mega-deals.

Kosmos Energy, the Dallas-based oil and gas exploration and production company with assets in the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa, has posted solid earnings and plans a new LNG export project from the Yakaar-Teranga gas fields offshore Senegal in addition to the ongoing FLNG ventures based on the Greater Tortue Ahmeyim resources shared between Senegal and Mauritania.

Saudi Arabia, which is buying LNG assets for the first time through Saudi Aramco, said that recent multi-billion dollar agreed acquisitions during October by US oil majors ExxonMobil Corp. and Chevron Corp. for Pioneer Natural Resources and Hess Corp. respectively for combined sums of more than $112 billion in stock proved that hydrocarbons were “here to stay” in the global energy future.

“Exxon and Chevron didn't buy because they want to have stranded assets,” said Saudi Energy Minister Prince Abdulaziz bin Salman at Riyadh's annual Future Investment Initiative (FII) conference and added that the US combinations for oil and gas could not have come at a “better time” for the industry.

The US takeover deals have drawn criticism from environmentalist activists who regard the merger and acquisition activities as undermining ambitious climate change aims that are increasingly costly and are beginning to affect energy security requirements of nations.

Aramco LNG

Saudi Aramco, the world’s largest oil production group, has signed definitive agreements to acquire a strategic minority stake in a company called MidOcean, a unit of Washington DC-based equity fund EIG for $500 million and thus entering the LNG sector initially in Australia.

Prince Abdulaziz said in the Riyadh's speech that the energy transition would require hydrocarbons including petrochemicals which are vital for sectors such as pharmaceuticals and industry manufacturing.

The International Energy Agency (IEA) argued in its World Energy Outlook issued on October 24 that world fossil fuel demand was set to peak by 2030 as more electric cars were being purchased and China's economy was forced to grow more slowly amid changes centred on renewable energy.

The IEA's forecasts run counter to those of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC), which sees oil demand rising long after 2030 and which would require trillions in new oil sector investment.

Saudi Arabia is the world's biggest oil exporter and intends to increase its oil production capacity by 1 million barrels per day to 13 million barrels per day by 2027 to meet increasing global demand.

Future oil demand

“We are investing not to create a stranded asset. Saudi Arabia would not be investing in raising its capacity if there was not sufficient demand for additional production,” he added.

Analysts noted that the US takeovers by ExxonMobil and Chevron have also focused on US shale oil and natural gas assets and have re-evaluated them upwards.

The Chevron and ExxonMobil deals have increased portfolio assets in premier US shale basins like the Bakken in North Dakota and the Permian in Texas

Other assets that will be acquired when the deals are approved include oil and gas blocks in South America and the Gulf of Mexico.

Hess’s Bakken assets added another leading US shale position to Chevron’s DJ basin and Permian basin operations and will further strengthen US domestic energy security.

In ExxonMobil’s case it agreed to pay an 18 percent premium for Pioneer’s prized assets relative to its share price.

The acquisition of Permian acreage by ExxonMobil provides shale oil, natural gas and liquids for the global and US markets as well as growing LNG feed-gas volumes from associated gas.

Kosmos Energy, the US-based oil and gas development company and shareholder in the BP-led Senegal-Mauritania floating LNG production project offshore West Africa, swung to a third-quarter profit from a previous loss as it advanced with Atlantic-Margin projects in Africa and the Gulf of Mexico.

TotalEnergies posted annual net income of $16.03 billion versus losses of $7.42Bln the previous year and the earnings included a 10 percent increase in LNG sales totalling 42 million tonnes in 2021.

The company’s LNG sales for the fourth quarter jumped 16 percent to 11.2MT and the average LNG selling price was $13.12 per million British thermal units in the final three months of 2021, an increase of 44 percent compared with the third quarter.

Fourth-quarter net income came to $5.83Bln versus $847 million in the same three months of 2020.

Hydrocarbon production for LNG increased 6 percent year-on-year in the fourth quarter.

“LNG sales increased sharply on higher production from Cameron LNG in Louisiana and Freeport LNG in Texas, up 16 percent in the fourth quarter compared to a year ago and up 10 percent for full-year 2021 versus 2020,” stated the Paris-based company.

TotalEnergies also announces its decision not to sanction and to withdraw from the North Platte deepwater project in the US Gulf of Mexico.

“The decision not to continue with the project was taken as the company has better opportunities of allocation of its capital within its global portfolio,” said TotalEnergies.

TotalEnergies held a 60 percent operated interest in North Platte, alongside its joint-interest owner Equinor of Norway, which held 40 percent. .

“We have duly notified our partner and the relevant authorities of the immediate withdrawal from the project, and of its resignation as operator which will be effective following a short transition period to ensure an orderly hand-over of operatorship,” stated the company.

Brazil and Africa

TotalEnergies at the same time is increasing its presence in Brazil and Africa by entering the Brazilian Atapu and Sépia giant fields and launching the Lake Albert Resource Development Project for Uganda and Tanzania.

The French major’s annual results showed generated cash flow of $30.7Bln, which was $13Bln more than in 2020, and adjusted annual gross earnings came to $42.3bln.

“The integrated Gas, Renewables and Power segment reported adjusted net operating income of $2.8Bln and cash flow of $2.4Bln in the fourth quarter, bringing full-year results and cash flow to $6.2Bln and $6.1Bln, respectively,” said Chairman and Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanné.

“These historic results build on the globally integrated LNG portfolio, leveraging rising oil and gas prices and outperformance in the gas and LNG trading business,” he added.

“The profitable growth strategy in Renewables & Electricity continues with more than 10 gigawatts of installed gross capacity and more than 6 million electricity customers at year-end 2021,” stated the CEO.

TotalEnergies said it its 2022 outlook that it expected to continue the momentum that has been underway for several years.

“TotalEnergies is implementing its strategy of integrated growth in LNG, which will generate structural cash flow growth of $1Bln in 2022,” stated the company

“In addition, given the evolution of oil and gas prices in recent months and the lag effect on price formulas, TotalEnergies anticipates that its average LNG selling price should remain at a high level of at least $12 per MMBtu in the first half of 2022,” it added.

Kosmos Energy, the US-based shareholder in the floating liquefied natural gas joint venture offshore the West African nations of Mauritania and Senegal, has acquired bigger shareholdings in oil and gas fields offshore Ghana from Occidental Petroleum of the US for $550 million.

Kosmos Energy, the US shareholder in the floating LNG projects offshore the West African nations of Mauritania and Senegal, has announced a new leadership team in its exploration division.

Inpex Corp., the Japanese operator of the Ichthys LNG export plant in Australian and with a stake in a large Indonesian liquefaction project, has acquired an additional portion of ExxonMobil’s Lucius and Hadrian North field stakes in the US Gulf of Mexico producing oil and natural gas.

Kosmos Energy, the US shareholder in the floating LNG projects offshore the West African nations of Mauritania and Senegal, said in its third-quarter earnings that the ventures were making good progress, while the company posted a net loss.