Oil And Gas Explorer News

Japan's Inpex Corp plans to conduct scheduled maintenance at its Ichthys liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant in Darwin, Australia, from around July 1 to Aug.

Japan will divert some liquefied natural gas (LNG) cargoes to Europe after requests from the United States and the European Union, the industry minister said on Wednesday, a step that aligns the country with the West as tensions flare with Russia.Concern has mounted over the possible disruption of supplies from Russia, Europe's biggest gas provider, following the buildup of Russian troops near Ukraine and heightened tensions between Moscow and the West.The extra shipments are expected to arrive next month, minister Koichi Hagiuda told reporters."We have decided to respond to requests from the United States and EU for sending LNG to Europe, where gas supply is tight," Hagiuda said after separately meeting with the U.S.

Indian oil and gas explorer ONGC said Monday it had, together with Coast Guard, helped avert a possible disaster relating to an empty LPG Tanker ‘Gas Yodla’ which went adrift after engine failure in the Arabian Sea on  July 24, 2021. "At 6:35 PM on that day, the LPG tanker reported engine failure and started drifting in the Sea, around 20 nautical miles (nm) from ONGC’s D1 field," ONGC said.The vessel, owned by Dubai-based Shield Marine, was on its way to Fujairah, UAE from Mongla, Bangladesh.

The Chief Executive of offshore oil and gas driller Fieldwood Energy LLC, Matt McCarroll, says he is not scared of the hurricanes, geological risks and costs that keep some oil companies out of the Gulf of Mexico. Instead, he is doubling down. The private equity-backed company - already the largest operator on the U.S. outer continental shelf - announced on Thursday it is closing a $480 million acquisition of Noble Energy’s assets in the Gulf of Mexico that will add 25,000 barrels per day (bpd) to its current net production of 72,000 bpd of oil equivalent.

Ophir Energy has signed a preliminary agreement to sell gas from its Fortuna floating liquefied natural gas (FLNG ) project in west Africa. All the six counterparties are established LNG buyers in European and Asian markets. The oil and gas explorer’s announcement that it had found six buyers for the gas shored up confidence in the project, which comes amid weak LNG prices, sluggish demand and rising global output. The cost of the Fortuna project off the coast of Equatorial Guinea has already been slashed from $800 million to $600 million. Ophir is selling 2.2 MTPA of LNG offtake, however the total demand requested under the HoAs has seen the offtake sold several times over.

Cnooc Ltd., China’s biggest offshore oil and gas explorer, posted a 56 percent decline in profit for the first half of this year. Net income dropped to 14.73 billion yuan ($2.3 billion), or 0.33 yuan a share, from 33.59 billion yuan, or 0.75 yuan, a year earlier, the Beijing-based explorer said in a statement to the Hong Kong stock exchange Wednesday. That exceeded the 13.9-billion yuan average of three analyst estimates compiled by Bloomberg. Despite profit fall, the company kept its dividend payout the same as the year-earlier level. Planned capital expenditure reduction by about 30 billion yuan this year and first-half savings of 12 billion yuan on an oil production tax helped offset lower cash inflows due to lower oil prices.

Oil and gas explorer and producer Samson Energy Company LLC is selling its offshore Gulf of Mexico assets that could fetch more than $1 billion, according to people familiar with the situation. The Tulsa, Oklahoma-based company has tapped Jefferies LLC, the New York-based investment bank, to assist with the sale effort, these people said, asking not be named because the talks are private. A representative for privately-held Samson confirmed Jefferies was working on a sale process for the portfolio of wells and leases, but declined to provide further details. A Jefferies representative declined to comment. The assets up for sale include a portfolio of federal leases as well as investments in wells operated by third parties, according to the people familiar with the matter.

Australian energy company Origin Energy Ltd said on Monday it will buy oil and gas explorer Karoon Gas Ltd's 40 percent stake in Poseidon, Browse Basin gas assets for up to $800 million. In a statement, Origin said the purchase gives it a strategic stake in one of Australia's biggest offshore gas discoveries. It plans to initially fund the deal through debt facilities but raise around A$1 billion ($930 million) through an equity raising some time after August. Melbourne-based Karoon said the sale gives it financial flexibility to advance other oil exploration programs. Karoon shares have been suspended from trading since April 30 and will resume trading on Monday. (Reporting by Byron Kaye; Editing by Richard Pullin) ($1 = 1.0745 Australian Dollars)

Singapore's oil and gas explorer KrisEnergy acquired a 42 percent stake in the Tanjung Aru block in the Makassar Strait from its partner Neon Energy on May 5, company spokesman Tanya Pang said. The transaction occurred after Neon Energy failed to pay a cash call worth $1 million, submitted by KrisEnergy. (Kontan) Note: Reuters has not verified this story and does not vouch for its accuracy. (Compiled by Jakarta Newsroom; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu)

SEOUL - South Korea's Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering said on Thursday that it had received an order worth $2 billion to build a Floating Production Storage and Offloading (FPSO) vessel for Japan's top oil and gas explorer, Inpex Corp. Daewoo said it planned to deliver the vessel by April, 2016. The vessel will be in operation for Inpex's Ichthys project in the Browse Basin offshore Western Australia, Daewoo. (Reuters)

Canadian Pacific Ltd., one of Canada's biggest and oldest companies, said it would split into five publicly traded firms, a move aimed at shedding a conglomerate discount that had dogged its stock. Besides CP Rail, Canada's No. 2 railway, Canadian Pacific owns 86 percent of cash-rich PanCanadian Petroleum Ltd., the country's top oil and gas explorer and producer, as well as Fording Coal Ltd., CP Ships, a global shipping firm, and CP Hotels. Canadian Pacific, the C$18-billion ($12-billion) transport, energy and hotel concern best known for its national railway, which tied the vast country together in the 19th century, had long been viewed as ripe for breakup because the sum of its parts were seen to be worth more to investors than the whole.

Oil and gas explorer W&T Offshore Inc. said its second-quarter profit rose 18 percent on higher revenues from its August 2006 acquisition of Kerr-McGee properties. Net income rose to $45.5 million, or 60 cents per share, from $38.5 million, or 58 cents per share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 64 percent to $272.6 million from $165.8 million. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected, on average, earnings of 46 cents per share on revenue of $263.8 million. The company posted higher production of natural gas and oil, with an increase in the average natural-gas price and a decline in the average oil price. Source: AP

Standard & Poor's said offshore drilling contractor Ensco International Inc. will replace BellSouth Corp. in its widely followed S&P 500 index after trading ends Wednesday. BellSouth was acquired by rival AT&T Inc. in a deal completed Friday. Replacing Ensco in the S&P MidCap 400 will be oil and gas explorer Cimarex Energy Co. Hornbeck Offshore Services Inc., which supplies vessels to the oil and gas industry, takes Cimarex's spot in the S&P SmallCap 600.(Source: Business Week)

Gas and petroleum exploration company L&M Mining expects to launch its initial public offering to raise $23.2m this month. The plan is that the new company, floated on 20c shares, will be dual-listed on the New Zealand and Australian stock exchanges by the end of November. L&M is the largest and most aggressive of all the "junior" exploration companies in New Zealand, not only in oil and gas, but also in promoting the vast southern lignite resource as a potential petrochemical source. It has five permits covering Otago and Southland containing an estimated 2 billion tonnes of lignite, a separate venture from the proposed float. While juniors historically stake a prospect and undertake drilling to work up estimates of the target oil…