Woodside Energy of Australia signs first ever LNG long-term cargo supply deal with CPC Corp of Taiwan
Woodside Energy, the operator of the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG plants in Western Australia, has signed a sale and purchase agreement with CPC Corp. of Taiwan for the long-term supply of cargoes.
Japanese LNG producer Inpex reports doubling of earnings on higher oil and gas prices as projects advance
Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest oil and natural gas exploration and production company and an LNG plant operator and developer, reported a doubling of earnings because of higher prices as projects advanced, including an LNG project in Indonesia.
Shell’s ‘Prelude’ FLNG project offshore northwest Australia sees work to rule by workers extended to August 4
Workers at Shell’s “Prelude” floating liquefied natural gas hull moored off the northwest coast Australia have extended industrial action until August 4, disrupting LNG shipment schedules from the facility.
North Asian LNG and European gas benchmarks jump because of global supply worries and plant outages
European Union natural gas benchmarks and North Asia spot liquefied natural gas cargo prices advanced because of concerns that Russia could cut off the main pipeline link to Germany and cause a global LNG supply crisis at a time when US and Australian shipments were down because of outages.
Shell says LNG cargo exports have resumed from Prelude FLNG facility offshore northwest Australia
Shell said LNG cargo exports had resumed from the Prelude floating LNG production facility offshore northwest Australia after safety checks had been passed by the regulator.
Australian report gauges effects on regional LNG and energy markets caused by the events in Europe
The Australian view of the global natural gas and LNG markets has been updated since the Ukraine crisis and is seen as not only affecting Europe but has altered forecasts and aims in the whole Asia-Pacific region as well.
“Not only is Russia the biggest gas supplier to Europe, it is now the world’s fourth-largest LNG producer, with more than half Russian LNG going to Asia, where Japan is the biggest Russian customer,” said the recently updated report from Adelaide-based consultants EnergyQuest.
“At the same time that Japan’s LNG imports from Russia are under a cloud, Australian supplies to Japan are under threat from the looming cessation of gas from Bayu-Undan for Darwin LNG, the decline of the North West Shelf and the problems with Prelude,” said the report.
These are references to the Bayu-Undan gas field in the Timor Sea and which is near depletion as a supplier to the Darwin liquefaction plant, while problems continue with Shell’s Prelude floating production hull offshore northwest Australia.
“The end of Bayu-Undan also means the end of Timor-Leste’s major revenue-producing asset,” said EnergyQuest.
It noted that with the European crisis, the demand for Australian LNG is likely now to be even greater, which is an opportunity to win more contracts for current new projects.
Aims and priorities
“Woodside should be able to contract more of Scarborough and Santos more of Barossa,” said the report in reference to separate new LNG projects planned by Perth-based Woodside Petroleum and Adelaide-based Santos .
“The second priority would be to keep existing plants full, particularly the North West Shelf in the face of its looming decline,” it added.
A third priority raised by the report was that of brownfield expansions to existing Australian projects but they would need to be able to demonstrate links to net-zero aims.
“New Australian greenfield projects are unlikely. We already have 10 LNG projects and brownfield expansions would be the most cost effective,” explained the report.
The report noted that the Western Australia Browse project has already had three attempts at development and none succeeded so the emergence of a new Browse venture was seen as “pretty unlikely”.
PNG hopes
“Papua LNG in Papua New Guinea is probably the most likely new project in the neighbourhood. It would be great for Timor-Leste if Sunrise (a project once studied by Woodside) could be developed but it has challenges,” added EnergyQuest.
The consultancy also mentioned key Australian statistics from 2021 on production in the various states.
LNG production increased in Western Australia and Queensland while domestic natural gas output decreased in all regions and national oil production decreased “significantly” in 2021.
“However, national condensate production in 2021 increased by 5.8 percent year-on-year to a record level of 93.4 million barrels thanks to record production from Prelude, Ichthys and Wheatstone and high levels of output from the NWS and Gorgon,” stated the report.
Shell gives cautious Integrated Gas earnings forecast and cites impacts of trading and LNG shutdowns
Royal Dutch Shell has given an update on its second-quarter outlook with the Integrated Gas division, including LNG, expected to have trading and optimisation results significantly below average and similar to the first quarter of 2021 because of unplanned maintenance at LNG plants.
Australia expected to have record LNG output and keep World No. 1 spot even with plants off stream
Australia is on track for record LNG shipments to remain the world’s largest exporting country, ahead of Qatar and the US, even in a year when two plants suffered long shutdowns and economies worldwide were slowed by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Higher Australian LNG exports to North Asia offset by domestic investment delays in new projects
Australian liquefied natural gas exports continue at near record levels, underpinned by demand from North Asia and while Train shut-ins are unlikely, the oil price fall has led to LNG and gas investment delays.
Royal Dutch Shell LNG sales volumes fall along with drop in earnings from natural gas division
Royal Dutch Shell reported a small decline in liquefied natural gas sales volumes to 35.4 million tonnes for the first half while earnings from the natural gas division dropped 25 percent on lower pricing amid the start-up of the Prelude FLNG facility offshore northwest Australia.
