Northwest Australia News

Esgian's last roundup of the year for the Week 52 puts spotlight on new developments for Dolphin Drilling semisub, Seadrill drillships, as well as Shell’s plans for Australia and ONGC’s new tender for jackups in India.ContractsDolphin Drilling has signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with an undisclosed operator for the 1,500-ft semisubmersible Borgland Dolphin to undertake a 500-day drilling campaign in the UK. The drilling campaign is planned to begin directly after the firm part of the contract period with EnQuest, which was announced in late November 2023.

Shell and unions representing workers at its Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility have reached a wage deal to end a long-running strike and restart production at the site off northwest Australia, they said on Wednesday.Shell shut the 3.6 million-tonnes-a-year Prelude facility in July and told customers it would be unable to supply LNG for the duration of the protected industrial action, or strikes approved by Australia's Fair Work Commission, over a wage dispute."Shell is pleased to confirm an in-principle Enterprise Agreement has been reached with the Australian Workers’ Uni

Shell Plc said on Monday it is deferring planned maintenance work at the Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility that was due to go ahead in September because of industrial action at the site off northwest Australia."As a result of the ongoing Protected Industrial Action and inability to complete preparation work, we are not able to proceed with the planned turnaround at this time," a Shell spokesperson said in emailed comments.She said the extensive maintenance work, called a turnaround, would be put off to next year, with the timing to depend on a range of factors including weather conditions, contractor availability…

Shell Plc said on Wednesday liquefied natural gas (LNG) shipments from its Prelude floating facility off northwest Australia would be disrupted for at least two weeks due to work bans by unions fighting for better pay.Loading disruption at the 3.6-million-tonnes-a-year facility adds to tightness in a global LNG market just as Europe scrambles to secure cargoes to make up for lost Russian gas supply. One of the largest U.S. LNG plants, Freeport LNG is also undergoing an extended outage."We have issued a notice to customers that cargoes will be impacted until at least mid-July due to the industrial action," a Shell spokesperson said in an emailed comment.The last cargo left Prelude on June 26 on the ship Oceanic Breeze…

Shell Plc said on Monday it has resumed shipping liquefied natural gas (LNG) from its Prelude floating LNG facility off northwest Australia after a four-month shutdown due to a major power failure.A cargo completed loading and left the site on Sunday night, a Shell spokesperson said, declining to disclose the destination."Our focus at Prelude remains on the long-term and delivering safe, sustained and reliable performance into the future," Shell said in a statement.The 3.6 million-tonnes-a-year Prelude FLNG facility lost power on Dec.

Dutch dredging company Royal Boskalis Westminster N.V. has been awarded the contract for the seabed intervention and shore crossing activities for Woodside’s proposed Scarborough export gas pipeline in northwest Australia.The contract awarded by Woodside Energy Ltd. (Woodside), in its capacity as operator of the Scarborough Joint Venture, potentially carries a value of EUR 145 million if all options are called and is subject to a final investment decision which is expected in 2020.The contract is for preparatory activities related to offshore deepwater excavation, pipeline crossing, nearshore and shore crossing works for the export trunkline…

Shell’s floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) facility Prelude has officially entered into Lloyd's Register (LR) class. At 488 meters long, 74 meters wide and displacing about 600,000 tonnes of water, Prelude is the largest floating offshore facility in the world. Last month Prelude arrived at its operating location in the Browse Basin, offshore northwest Australia. It will be moored at a depth of 250 meters and will not be dry-docked for the first 25 years of its expected 50-year operational life.

Royal Dutch Shell's Prelude floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) ship has left a shipyard in South Korea for its destination offshore northwest Australia, the company said on Thursday.   Shell's $12.6 billion Prelude project is expected to start operating next year, the company said, after long delays since the oil major first decided to go ahead with the project in 2011.   Once the facility arrives in Australia, it will be secured to the seabed by mooring chains before it can be connected to the gas field and start operating, Shell said.   The Prelude FLNG was built by a Technip Samsung Heavy Industries consortium in the South Korean shipyard of Geoje.   Reporting by Karolin Schaps

Once considered the future of gas production, floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG) projects have been firmly relegated to the backburner as global gas producers seek cheaper ways to compete with a surge in U.S. shale supplies and slumping prices. FLNG projects - mega tankers fitted with gas extraction and liquefaction facilities - allow producers to tap offshore gas wells and ship LNG without having to build costly pipelines to onshore plants. Owners can move the vessels to new fields when production at an old one ends, slashing asset end-of-life costs.

Australia's plans for a huge increase in its production of liquefied natural gas are being dealt a big blow by a series of production delays, as energy companies struggle with technical problems and cost overruns. The country is still likely to become the world's biggest LNG exporter, dispatching about 85 million tonnes a year by the end of the decade, up from 30.7 million tonnes in 2015 and 45.1 million tonnes last year. But the pace of growth is much slower than expected because…

The 20 year four-fold growth pattern in the world’s FPSO fleet stalls out in 2016 with a record number of FPSOs idle and available for redeployment – or perhaps to be forced into other uses, lay up or scrap. FPSO redeployments typically are far more complex, costly and risky than for (say) drillships and yet the need for redeploying idle FPSOs is now in the forefront of the industry like never before as FPSO owners also have to face the worst ever down market for their equipment and services.

Asian spot prices for liquefied natural gas (LNG) slid for the third straight week, as pressure mounted from new Australian and U.S. supplies, traders said. LNG for April delivery in Asia eased to $4.30 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), down 20 cents from the previous week. Traders said they expected prices to fall below $4 during the summer as supply continues to pick up from new projects. "There's a bit of a squeeze going on from both sides of the world so prices are only going to go one way until things start to stabilise," said a trader. Cheniere Energy expects to export eight to 10 more cargoes of LNG in the next two months out of its newly commissioned Sabine Pass terminal.

FLNG deal-making has been sporadic since Woodside Petroleum at the end of 2013 delayed a final investment decision for the giant Browse FLNG project off Northwest Australia. The previous year had seen go-aheads for most of the floating liquefied natural gas projects (FLNG) underway today, including Shell’s Prelude FLNG — Woodside’s choice, it seems, of a liquefaction solution for fields 200 kilometers offshore. Yet Prelude, “the first project out”, might not be first to produce.

Norway-based TGS, report record high late sales in the fourth quarter of 2013, and inform of four new multi-client surveys: a 3D survey in offshore Northwest Australia, two 2D surveys offshore Madagascar and a 3D survey onshore Alberta, Canada. Based on preliminary reporting from operating units, TGS management expects net revenues for the fourth quarter of 2013 to be approximately USD 270 million, bringing total estimated net revenues for 2013 to approximately USD 882 million.

Berthing of vessels to be confirmed once the appropriate channel inspections have been carried out, sea conditions are within safe operating parameters for berthing and the Terminals are ready to start loading again. At this stage, first vessels to berth will be vessels that pre-loaded prior to terminal closure. Port Hedland has now re-opened and loading operations have resumed. The Australian Government Bureau of Meteorology Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre in Perth advises that although Ex-TC 'Christine' has weakened below tropical cyclone intensity, damaging wind gusts are likely to continue on the northeastern side of the system during Wednesday as it moves quickly across southeastern WA. Moderate to heavy rainfall is expected near the track.

Keppel Offshore & Marine Ltd's (Keppel O&M) subsidiaries Keppel Shipyard Ltd (Keppel Shipyard) and Keppel Nantong Shipyard Co. Ltd (Keppel Nantong) won five contracts worth about $120m in total. "We are glad to have the support of repeat and new customers for a range of offshore and marine projects," said Michael Chia, MD (Marine and Technology) of Keppel O&M. "Keppel Shipyard's latest contracts bear testament to its extensive expertise and experience in Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) and Floating Storage and Offloading (FSO) conversion, upgrading and repair works.

Exxon Mobil plans to develop a floating liquefied natural gas project to develop the Scarborough field off the coast of Western Australia. Exxon, whose partner in the field is Melbourne-based BHP Billiton Ltd. (BHP), expects to make a decision on whether to go ahead with the floating LNG venture in 2014 or 2015, with the project starting production in 2020 or 2021, reports Bloomberg. In Australia, Shell is developing the Prelude floating LNG vessel -- expected to be as long as the Empire State Building and weigh six times as much as the biggest aircraft carrier -- after costs for onshore LNG plants in the country surged. While Exxon’s floating LNG facility in the Carnarvon Basin off northwest Australia is expected to be about 495 meters (1,624 feet) long and 75 meters wide.

Keppel Shipyard Ltd. (Keppel Shipyard) has secured Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) upgrading projects from its long-term partners SBM Offshore N.V. (SBM Offshore) and Bumi Armada Berhad (Bumi Armada). The combined contract value of the two projects is S170 million. The first project is from SBM Offshore to refurbish and upgrade an existing FPSO vessel, FPSO Xikomba. Work on this FPSO unit is expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2013. Leased by Eni Angola S.p.A (eni) for 12 years for the development of Block 15/06, offshore Angola, FPSO Xikomba is jointly owned by SBM Offshore and Sociedade Nacional de Combustíveis de Angola, E.P. (Sonangol), Angola's national oil and gas company.

Perth, Western Australia: Mobilarm's VHF DSC locator beacon technology has been chosen by Apache Energy to provide man overboard alerting and location for workers carrying out scheduled maintenance aboard the Reindeer Wellhead Platform, Northwest Australia. The 35 VHF DSC locator beacons ordered by Apache will be carried by maintenance crew, providing improved probability of rescue and survival should an emergency evacuation or man overboard (MOB) occur. "Although already being used to safeguard workers in a number of sectors including…

Oil traders and refiners yesterday were scrambling to move prompt crude oil and product supplies from Asia to the US West Coast, anticipating tighter markets with the closure of BP's Prudhoe Bay oilfield, according to a report on www.gulfnews.com. The shipments gave more lift to Middle East sour crude prices and regional jet fuel differentials, traders said. US refiner Tesoro Corp booked the 80,000-tonne crude oil tanker Cape Avila from Oman to the West Coast in early September, shipbrokers said. About one cargo a month of medium-sour Oman is normally shipped to the West Coast and traders had expected the loss of up to 400,000 barrels per day (bpd) of similar-quality Alaska North Slope would drive up US demand for the benchmark grade.

In the Exmouth sub-basin, offshore Northwest Australia, Apache Energy ltd. is developing the Van Gogh oilfield on behalf of a joint venture of the same name. As part of the Vincent field, it lies in water depths of 1,115.5 to 1,214 ft. An FPSO will be used for production and storage of the oil. The FPSO will be moored to a disconnectable turret-mooring (DTM) buoy, moored to the seabed with nine anchors. Flexible flowlines, which connect to two subsea manifolds and the production wellheads, will be attached to the buoy.

Cameron won a $110m contract to provide 13 subsea trees, manifolds and related equipment for BHP Billiton's Pyrenees project offshore Northwest Australia. Cameron will provide engineering and project management services, 13 wellhead and subsea tree systems, control systems, several subsea manifolds and the associated flowline connection system, chokes and related equipment. Initial equipment delivery and installation is scheduled for the fourth quarter of 2008, with additional deliveries of trees, manifolds and associated equipment to continue through 2010. In addition, further expansion of the Pyrenees field beyond the initial 13 wells is expected in the future.