LNG

ExxonMobil said upstream earnings potential was expected to double by 2027 from three years ago with more than 70 percent of capital investments being deployed in strategic developments in LNG projects around the world and in the US Permian Basin as well as in the South American nations of Guyana and Brazil.

The Irving, Texas-based major said that by 2027, upstream production is expected to grow by 500,000 oil-equivalent barrels per day to 4.2 million oil-equivalent barrels per day with more than 50 percent of the total to come from these key growth areas.

“Around 90 percent of upstream investments that bring on new oil and flowing gas production are expected to have returns greater than 10 percent at prices less than or equal to $35 per barrel, while also reducing upstream operated greenhouse-gas emissions intensity by 40-50 percent through 2030, compared to 2016 levels,” said ExxonMobil.

Corporate plan

The details came in ExxonMobil’s just issued corporate plan for the next five years, with a sizeable increase in investments aimed at emission reductions.

ExxonMobil’s priority LNG production areas are at the Golden Pass project in Texas, in the southeast African nation of Mozambique, in Papua New Guinea and in Qatar where its main partner is QatarEnergy.

The corporate plan through 2027 maintains annual capital expenditures at $20 billion to $25 billion, while growing lower-emissions investments to about $17Bln.

ExxonMobil forecast that earnings and cash flow growth was expected to double by 2027 compared with 2019.

There would also be share-repurchase program expanded up to $50Bln through 2024, including $15Bln in 2022.

“Our five-year plan is expected to drive leading business outcomes and is a continuation of the path that has delivered industry-leading results in 2022,” said Darren Woods, Chairman and Chief Executive.

“We view our success as an ‘and’ equation, one in which we can produce the energy and products society needs - and - be a leader in reducing greenhouse-gas emissions from our own operations and also those from other companies,” added Woods.

The corporate plan we’re laying out today reflects that view, and the results we’ve seen to date demonstrate that we’re on the right course.”

The company also remained on track to deliver a total of about $9 billion in structural cost reductions by year-end 2023 versus 2019.

In the Permian, the company said it was on track with its goal to reach net-zero Scope 1 and 2 emissions from its operated unconventional assets by 2030.

“We’re aggressively working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions from our operations, and our 2030 emission-reduction plans are on track to achieve a 40-50 percent reduction in upstream greenhouse-gas intensity, compared to 2016 levels,” added Woods.

“We will continue to advocate for clear and consistent government policies that accelerate progress to a lower-emissions future. At the same time, we’ll continue to work to provide solutions that can help customers in other industries reduce their emissions, especially in higher-emitting sectors of the economy like manufacturing, transportation and power generation,” stated the CEO.

US energy company Anadarko Petroleum has held talks in Maputo with Mozambique President Felipe Nyusi and outlined plans for a June 18 final investment decision and celebration for Mozambique LNG, even as Anadarko is the subject of a bidding battle between Chevron Corp. and Occidental Petroleum Corp.

Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, the Japanese supplier of turbines and compressors for the liquefied natural gas industry, has signed an agreement to provide its equipment to the onshore Rovuma liquefaction plant joint venture in Mozambique in southeast Africa.

Anadarko Petroleum of the US said it would seek long-term charters for around 16 liquefied natural gas carriers to ship volumes to customers from its proposed liquefaction and export project in Mozambique in southeast Africa.

The US exploration and production company, whose main assets are in onshore shale and conventional basins in the US states of Arkansas, Texas, Colorado and Pennsylvania, is scheduled to make a final investment decision soon along with its partners on the $20-billion Mozambique joint venture.

The supply contracts signed so far are for shipments delivered on an ex-ship (DES) basis whereby the seller provides the sea transportation to deliver to the buyer’s preferred import terminal.

“The project needs approximately 16 LNG vessels to service the DES contracts,” said the US company.

The Anadarko-led Mozambique venture will be the African nation’s first onshore development, initially consisting of two liquefaction Trains with total nameplate capacity of 12.88 MTPA with feed-gas coming from the Golfinho-Atum gas fields located within offshore Area 1 licence of the Rovuma Basin.

The Mozambique plant is being built near the port of Pemba in the northeast Cabo Delgado Province, about 900 kilometres north of Beira, the Mozambican city badly damaged by a cyclone in early March 2019 that caused many casualties.

Anadarko has supply deals with European utilities Centrica of the UK and French utility EDF, the Japanese utilities Tokyo Gas and Tohoku Electric and energy companies, Royal Dutch Shell, China National Offshore Oil Corp. and Bharat Petroleum of India.

The other stakeholders in the Anadarko-controlled Area 1 licence include Japanese trading house Mitsui and Co. and three Indian companies Bharat Petroleum, ONGC Videsh and Oil India Ltd., as well as Thailand’s national energy company PTTEP and the Mozambique state-owned oil and gas firm ENH.

Two other projects are planned in Mozambique from the separate Area 4 licence resources held by Italian energy company Eni and partners.

These include the Coral floating LNG joint venture with capacity of around 3.4 MTPA already under construction and scheduled to come on stream in 2022.

The Area 4 onshore Mamba LNG project is also expected to be sanctioned in 2019 and production is scheduled to start in 2024.

That consortium is formed by Mozambique Rovuma Ventures, comprising Eni 25 percent, ExxonMobil 25 percent and China National Petroleum Corp. (PetroChina) with 20 percent.

The remaining 30 percent of shares in the Area 4 licence are held in parcels of 10 percent by South Korean utility and energy company Korea Gas Corp., Galp Energia of Portugal and Mozambique’s ENH.

Italian Energy company Eni has sold a stake to Qatar Petroleum in an exploratory block offshore Mozambique, where several LNG projects are being developed from other blocks in the Rovuma Basin.

Italian energy company Eni and US major ExxonMobil said shareholders in the Area 4 licence offshore Mozambique have secured sufficient liquefied natural gas offtake commitments to enable them to move forward to schedule a final investment decision in 2019.

Qatar Petroleum said it signed an agreement with US major ExxonMobil, its main partner in the Qatari Ras Laffan LNG production complex, to acquire a 10 percent participating interest in three exploration blocks offshore the southeast African nation of Mozambique, one of the newest LNG developers.