Australian LNG operator Santos sees shares surge on reports of takeover interest from the Middle East
Santos Ltd, the Australian operator of two liquefied natural gas export plants and a main shareholder in Papua New Guinea LNG assets, has seen its shares surge on take-over speculation, separately involving the Saudi Arabian Oil Company and Abu Dhabi National Oil Company.
Saudi venture capital firm takes stake in UK company offering upstream technology for LNG, oil and storage
Alturki Ventures, the venture capital arm of Saudi Arabia's Alturki Holding, has provided a significant capital investment in Acoustic Data, a UK-based firm whose technology is cutting-edge for the increasing pipeline of upstream oil, gas and storage projects to meet a rebound in demand.
“The investment will be used to scale global deployments of its retrofittable and cutting-edge acoustic telemetry solutions that deliver real-time data from downhole to desktop, enabling remote optimisation of oil and gas wells and subsurface energy storage,” said a statement.
“We are extremely excited about the growth potential that our investment provides Acoustic Data,” said Rami Alturki, President and Chief Executive of Alturki Holding.
“It’s a technology business with patented downhole solutions that will provide true in-Kingdom value and maximisation of oil and gas production for our customers,” stated Alturki.
Acoustic Data was founded in 2012 and is headquartered in Woking in southern England.
The statement noted that Acoustic Data’s SonicGauge™ is used throughout the entire lifecycle of a well, from drill stem testing surface readout and production optimisation to barrier integrity monitoring and abandonment programmes.
Intelligent completions
It added that the duplex SonicSync™ Command+Control Platform provides third-party downhole equipment providers with a communication system to remotely activate tools in intelligent completions and drill stem testing operations.
“Our team has deployed the SonicGauge in many global markets and applications from brownfield optimisation in Asia-Pacific to underground gas storage in Continental Europe,” said Jesse Tolley, Chief Commercial Officer of Acoustic Data.
“Alturki's capital, technical know-how, and growth mindset will allow Acoustic Data to capitalise on a substantial opportunity to instrument and digitalise Saudi Arabia’s well stock,” added Tolley.
Corey Campbell, Director of Operations at Sawafi, an Alturki Holding subsidiary, is impressed with the UK firm’s technology offering.
“Acoustic Data’s portfolio allows operators to apply a proven communication protocol across multiple disciplines,” he explained.
“We are excited to explore technology synergies and expect collaboration to bring new optimisation and control mechanisms to subsurface assets worldwide,” stated Campbell.
Alturki Ventures has as its role identifying unique investment opportunities which can help technology development and digital transformation efforts.
The firm has a growing portfolio in the Middle East, Europe and the Americas, comprised of companies that are changing the Upstream oil and gas services sectors and other industries.
Saudi Aramco doubles profits to $110Bln on oil surge and plans 50 percent rise in natural gas production
Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Aramco), the world’s largest seller of crude oil, reported that annual net income more than doubled to $110 billion and confirmed plans to boost natural gas output by 50 percent.
Saudi Aramco’s Hawiyah Unayzah Gas Reservoir Storage advances with Dutch firm winning contract
A heavy-lifting, transportation and installation contract has been awarded to privately held Dutch company Mammoet for Saudi Aramco’s natural gas storage and gas resources management project, the Aramco Hawiyah Unayzah Gas Reservoir Storage venture, located 260 kilometres (160 miles) east of Saudi Arabia's capital Riyadh.
Saudi Aramco posts drop in profits but sees oil and gas demand recovery in Asia and elsewhere
The Saudi Arabian Oil Company, Saudi Aramco, reported a 44 percent drop in annual profits, though still earned a net $49 billion in 2020 as it posted record oil and natural gas output even as revenues were affected by lower crude oil prices and sales tumbled because of the economic slump caused by Covid-19.
Saudi Aramco posts $16.9Bln quarterly profits and plans capital spending of $25Bln-$30Bln
The Saudi Arabian Oil Co (Saudi Aramco), the biggest crude oil production company and partly responsible for swamping the globe with oil supplies amid a demand plunge, reported a 25 percent drop in first-quarter net income to $16.7 billion from $22.21Bln in the prior-year quarter.
