LNG

Oil India Limited, the state-owned oil and natural gas company and a stakeholder in Mozambique LNG, posted 13.5 percent higher quarterly net profits while revenues also rose, helped by higher crude prices offsetting lower natural gas values.

The company, which traces its roots to the first discovery of the crude oil in India at Digboi in Assam in 1889, is the nation’s second-largest exploration and production company after Oil and National Gas Corp. (ONGC) and the net profits in the quarter to the end of March 2024 were its highest ever.

Oil India said fourth-quarter net profits came to 2,029 crore Indian rupees ($243.5M) compared with 1,788 crore rupees ($214.6M) in the prior-year quarter.

The company said quarterly earnings per share increased to 18.71 rupees from 14.61 rupees per share.

Mozambique plans

Serious moves had recently been underway to resume the TotalEnergies-led project development.

Oil India’s stake in Mozambican LNG is in the Area 1 Rovuma Basin licence operated by TotalEnergies and centred on the long delayed liquefaction plant construction on the Afungi Peninsula in Cabo Delgado province.

Other overseas stakes are held by Japan's Mitsui with 20 percent stake and three Indian companies, ONGC Videsh, Bharat PetroResources and Beas Rovuma Energy each have a 10 percent and Thailand's PTTEP owns 8.5 percent.

Oil India is involved in the Area 1 Block through its 40 percent shareholding in Beas Rovuma Energy.

In its earnings statement, Oil India said revenues for the quarter increased to 5,757 crore rupees ($691M), up from the 5,646 crore rupees ($677M) earned in the fourth quarter of 2023.

The company reported annual fiscal-year revenues of 22,129 crore rupees ($2.65 billion) versus 23,259 crore rupees ($2.79Bln) in the previous 2022-2023 fiscal year.

Annual fiscal-year net profits dropped to 5,551 crore rupees ($666M) from 6,810 crore rupees ($817M) in the previous year.

Earnings per share for the year declined to 51.20 rupees per share from 62.80 rupees per share.

Crude prices

The company, whose headquarters are in Noida in the state of Uttar Pradesh, said that global crude oil prices jumped during March, benefiting the company's bottom line.

Oil India's crude oil division accounts for more than 70 percent of total revenue and natural gas for much of the rest.

“We achieved a growth in our natural gas production during the fourth quarter by 3.21 percent over the corresponding quarter of FY23 and the company achieved the highest ever domestic natural gas production of 3.182 billion cubic metres,” India Oil said.

Annual crude oil revenues declined to 16,123 crore rupees ($1.93Bln) compared with 16,787 crore rupees in the previous fiscal year.

Natural gas revenues for the year came to 5,189 crore ($623M), down from 5489 crore rupees ($659M) in the previous year.

April 24 (LNGJ) - Beach Energy, a partner of Japan’s Mitsui in the delayed Waitsia LNG project in the onshore Perth Basin of Western Australia, reported an increase in sales revenue from a year ago to A$392 million (US$254M) from A$353M in the 2023 quarter. “Our results were overshadowed by the delay to construction of the Waitsia Gas Plant and weather-related impacts to production,” said Beach’s Chief Executive Brett Wood. “The ongoing emergence of quality issues at Waitsia during the pre-commissioning phase is disappointing,” stated the CEO.

   Beach added that in the Perth Basin drilling campaign there were “pleasing results” including a gas discovery at Redback Deep. “Three gas discoveries and one gas development well from our operated campaign is an encouraging outcome which will provide valuable backfill volumes,” Wood said. Beach’s Enterprise well in the Otway Basin of south Australia is also on track to provide a valuable new gas supply source for the East Coast.

Jan 25 (LNGJ) - Beach Energy of Australia reported a 37 percent increase in quarterly sales revenue of A$544 million (US$358M), mainly due to the sale of the first Waitsia LNG project cargo from the onshore gas project in the Perth Basin of Western Australia and the one-off sale of a condensate shipment from the Waitsia venture with Mitsui of Japan. “Production and stored volumes from the Xyris Gas Plant, together with third-party surplus gas sourced via a swap arrangement, enabled processing and lifting of the first Waitsia LNG cargo at the North West Shelf plant (tolling) in December 2023,” said Beach.

   “Beach acquired Mitsui’s 50 percent share and sold the cargo to BP under the terms of the previously announced LNG sales and purchase agreement with BP. The cargo delivered revenue of A$96 million and net cash proceeds to Beach of A$49M after purchase of Mitsui’s share,” said Beach. “As we work toward commissioning of the Waitsia Gas Plant, we look forward to selling regular LNG cargoes into the global market,” said Chief Executive Bruce Clement.

Mozambique, the newest liquefied natural gas exporter, has voted for the creation of a Sovereign Wealth Fund similar to that in oil and gas producing nation Norway to make sure the Mozambican people benefit from current and future LNG expansions led by major international energy companies.

The Russian Finance Ministry said that that the federation’s oil and gas revenues decreased by 26 percent in the first 10 months of the year amid warnings that natural gas and LNG producer Gazprom was heading for record losses and another gas company Novatek faced financial disruption to its Arctic LNG II project.

Russian natural gas company Novatek has plans to start commercial shipments from the Arctic LNG II project in mid-January 2024 and would likely send three to five cargoes per month eastwards to the Asian market, including China, while Russia’s Sakhalin LNG plant in the Far East has re-started after scheduled maintenance.

TotalEnergies, the operator of the Mozambique onshore liquefied natural gas project, is moving towards re-starting the joint venture once the recommendations of a commissioned humanitarian report are carried out during 2023.

May 17 (LNGJ) - Beach Energy, the company involved in the Waitsia gas development and LNG project in the Perth Basin of Western Australia, has also progressed with new gas wells connected to the Otway Gas Plant in the southern Australian state of Victoria.

   The company said it had connected two more gas wells in the offshore Otway Basin to the Otway Gas Plant and was now delivering additional gas into the Australian East Coast domestic gas market. “Four of the six Otway development wells that were drilled as part of the major drilling campaign are now connected,” Beach said. The company added that it was reviewing its preferred approach to connecting the final two wells, which will require either the repair or replacement of a flowline.

European Union countries have bought a record 8.93 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas cargoes from Russia in the year to April, beating the previous record set through to December 2022 of 8.80MT of shipments.

ADNOC Gas, the recently spun-off subsidiary of Abu Dhabi National Oil Co (ADNOC), has signed its first big deal since the floatation in the form of a three-year LNG supply agreement with French major TotalEnergies.

Following an initial public offering completed in March 2023, ADNOC Gas is now listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange as a separate company and is responsible for running Abu Dhabi’s world-scale LNG, natural gas processing and gas marketing operations in the United Arab Emirates.

The ADNOC Gas liquefaction plant on Das Island in the Arabian Gulf currently has export capacity of 6 million tonnes per annum and TotalEnergies is already a customer.

A statement said that the ADNOC Gas supply deal with TotalEnergies was with the French company’s Gas and Power unit and was for a period of three years, though the volumes involved were not immediately disclosed.

“Our new LNG supply agreement with TotalEnergies represents another significant milestone in our strategy to expand our global reach and strengthen our position,” said Ahmed Mohamed Alebri, Chief Executive of ADNOC Gas.

Commitment

“This agreement reflects our commitment to meeting the needs of our customers by offering supply security, price competitiveness,and flexibility,” Alberi added.

TotalEnergies has a long-standing presence in the UAE, having operated in the country for more than 80 years.

“We are pleased to have signed this three-year contract with our long-standing strategic partner,” said Thomas Maurisse, Senior Vice President LNG at TotalEnergies.

“These additional volumes will strengthen our global LNG portfolio and our ability to supply the growing Asian markets,” Maurisse added.

The three-year contract is expected to commence in 2023 and will run through 2025.

The ADNOC Gas IPO followed the sale of 5 percent of its shares for around $2.5 billion and the company is now listed on the Abu Dhabi Securities Exchange.

In addition to operating the Das Island LNG plant ADNOC Gas now independently runs eight processing sites, both onshore and offshore, and has a pipeline network of over 3,250 kilometres (2,020 miles) in length in the region.

Existing joint venture partners in the company’s LNG plant include Japan’s Mitsui & Co and UK major BP, as well as TotalEnergies.

TotalEnergies is also a gas-processing partner of ADNOC Gas and Shell and Thailand’s PTT Exploration and Production have similar joint venture partnerships with the company.