LNG

Maintenance workers at Woodside Energy’s North West Shelf and Pluto LNG export plants in Australia went on strike late Wednesday after talks with contractor UGL collapsed. The NWS terminal in Karratha produces 14.3 mtpa of LNG, while Pluto has a capacity of 4.9 mtpa, making them a material source of Australian LNG supply.

Jan 20 (LNGJ) - The largest Chinese LNG importer, China National Offshore Oil Corp., is bringing on stream five new projects during 2017, three oil fields in China, a gas field in Indonesia and the Hangingstone oil sands joint venture in Canada. CNOOC added that it had 20 other projects under construction. The company's total capital expenditure for 2017 will be up to 70 billion Chinese yuan ($10Bln). ”We will maintain prudent financial policy and improve capital efficiency in response to the continued challenge posed by low oil prices,” the company said in a strategy update. The CNOOC net production target for 2017 is in the range of 450 to 460 million barrels of oil equivalent, of which around 64 percent will be produced in China and 36 percent would come from overseas. CNOOC has stakes in the Northwest Shelf LNG plant in Western Australia and in the Tangguh liquefaction facility in Indonesia.

Woodside Petroleum, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto liquefaction plants in Western Australia, reported improving results for LNG income as the Wheatstone project it is developing with Chevron Corp. moved closer to start-up with storage tank commissioning.

Oct 19 (LNGJ) - BHP Billiton, the Australian energy and commodity company, said its natural gas production for the third quarter declined by 10 per cent to 182 billion cubic feet. “The decline primarily reflects lower onshore US gas volumes as a result of the decision to defer development activity for longer-term value and the successful divestment of our gas business in Pakistan. This was partially offset by increased LNG volumes at North West Shelf and higher demand at Bass Strait,” BHP said. It expects the completion by the end of 2016 of the transaction whereby it sold 50 percent of its interest in the undeveloped Scarborough area gas fields. Under the proposal, ExxonMobil will remain operator of Scarborough and operatorship of North Scarborough will transfer from BHP Billiton to Australia’s Woodside.

Aug 22 (LNGJ) - The results of Australia's North West Shelf LNG tender for cargoes loading in September, October and November indicate "a steep contango building into the traditionally high-demand winter season," analysts said.

This prompted some buyers in Japan to purchase cargoes for October at prices significantly above levels around $10.70/MMBtu seen in September.

Prices for LNG spot cargoes into Asia have notched up for the second straight week, recovering to just under $11/MMBtu, after buyers bid close to $12/MMBtu in a tender Australia's Northwest Shelf (NWS) project for an unspecified number of cargoes loading from late August to late November.