Santos Ltd News

The investment outlook for liquefied natural gas (LNG) has improved this year but project go-aheads will not match the bonanza of 2019, as the fight against climate change clouds the prospects for gas demand growth longer term.Renewed optimism as the industry emerges from the pandemic, rapidly rebounding oil and gas prices and a better economic outlook is building confidence in short and long term LNG demand in Asia and spurring companies to look at new LNG projects, most of which were shelved last year when prices slumped.However, they need to take into account the ever tighter carbon emissio

Lockdowns to slow the coronavirus pandemic are pummelling gas demand in the world's biggest buyers of liquefied natural gas (LNG), pushing Asia's spot prices to record lows and forcing some suppliers to start cutting output. Economies worldwide have ground to a halt as virus containment measures have taken their toll, slashing gas demand for power generation, heating, cooking, vehicles and chemical manufacture. The world's biggest LNG markets - Japan, China, South Korea, and India - are all seeing a drop in demand. Asia's spot LNG prices dropped to $1.85 per million British thermal units (mmBtu) last week, the lowest ever, as cargoes have flooded the market. "At prices in the $2/mmBtu range ... some producers are getting close to not recovering cash costs of their operations.

Italy's Eni announces the purchase of a 32.5% stake in the Evans Shoal gas field in the Timor Sea, Australia. The field is located offshore in the NT/P48 exploration permit in the north Bonaparte Basin, around 300km northwest of Darwin, where there is an existing LNG plant precinct. The undeveloped Evans Shoal field, discovered in 1998, holds expected gas in place of up to 7 trillion cubic feet. In late October 2011, Eni reached an agreement with Australian based company Santos Ltd to purchase its 40% equity share. The agreement involved an initial payment of US$250 million and a contingent future cash payment of up to US$100 million subject to a positive final investment decision (FID) for the development of Evans Shoal and the level of 2P reserves at FID.

Spot LNG exports in government's cross-hairs; ConocoPhillips, Origin, Shell now in the firing line. The Australian government on Monday warned that the country's east faced a worse-than-expected natural gas shortfall in 2018, but the competition watchdog said the gap could easily be filled by diverting uncontracted exports to the local market. It is now up to the government to decide by Nov. 1 whether to pull the trigger on its Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism, which allows it to curb liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from the nation's east coast if it determines there will be a shortfall in any year. The supply gap identified…

Australia's conservative government unveiled a radical plan on Thursday to restrict exports of liquefied natural gas (LNG) at times when domestic shortages push up local prices, aiming to ease soaring energy costs for local manufacturers. The plan would allow Australia's resources minister to impose controls on LNG exports on advice from the market operator and regulator, as the government seeks to cap domestic gas prices, which have become a political hot potato. "It's not a threat. This will be export controls.

Asian liquefied natural gas (LNG) prices were steady this week amid limited trading activity. The price of Asian spot cargoes for February delivery was pegged at $6.90 per million British thermal units (mmBtu), in line with the previous week. Traders eyed developments in Nigeria where Eni has declared force majeure on loadings from the country's LNG export plant due to pipeline sabotage. All other suppliers continued to ship, although traders said the pace of loadings had slowed. "There's a slight backlog of vessels, they're not loading as quickly as they normally would," said a trader. Nigeria LNG's export plant at Bonny Island can produce 22 million metric tonnes of liquefied gas a year and has long-term supply contracts with buyers in Italy, Spain, Turkey, Portugal and France.

The first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Australia's Gladstone project has been delivered to Korea Gas Corp, Total Chief Executive Patrick Pouyanne said on Thursday. The French oil and gas company holds a 27.5 percent stake in the project. Other partners include Australia's Santos Ltd , Malaysia's Petronas and Korea Gas Corp. The Gladstone project produces natural gas from coal seams and converts it into LNG for shipping to buyers, mostly in Asia.   Reporting by Bate Felix

Exxon Mobil Corporatio says it has shipped the first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from the $19 billion PNG (Papua New Guinea) LNG project ahead of schedule. PNG LNG, operated by ExxonMobil affiliate ExxonMobil PNG Limited, is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over its estimated 30 years of operations. The first cargo is bound for LNG customer Tokyo Electric Power Co. Inc. (TEPCO) in Japan. Production from the first train started in April, 2014, and production from the second train has also started as additional wells came online. Construction of PNG LNG began in 2010, and took more than 190 million work hours to complete. At its peak, the project employed more than 21,000 people.

ExxonMobil's $19 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Papua New Guinea, which is shipping its first cargo, is set to dramatically transform one of Asia-Pacific's most unstable countries, for better or for worse. The LNG venture, which is expected to produce more than 9 trillion cubic feet of gas over 30 years, is the largest private investment in the South Pacific nation's history. ExxonMobil is relying on projects like this one for much-needed production growth, while the Papua New Guinea government hopes it might double its $15 billion dollar economy, now slightly larger than Botswana's. But sharing the spoils of resource projects has previously torn apart a country that is seen as one of the most corrupt in the world…

Wärtsilä Corporation won a contract to supply a 31.5 MW diesel power plant for a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel for the Mutineer-Exeter field of Santos Ltd off the north west coast of Australia. The plant has been ordered by MODEC Inc of Tokyo, Japan, a leading designer and supplier of FPSO vessels, floating storage and offloading (FSO) vessels and tension-leg platforms for the world oil and gas industry. MODEC is converting an existing Suezmax tanker, of about 150,000 tdw, into a turret-moored FPSO vessel for Santos Ltd of Australia. It will be operated by MODEC on the Mutineer-Exeter field (WA-191-P) which is located approximately 150 km due north of Dampier on the north west coast of Australia.

Transocean Sedco Forex Inc., the world's biggest offshore driller, said one of its rigs was damaged by a gas blowout while drilling a well offshore Indonesia for Australia's Santos Ltd. Transocean said all 92 crewmen aboard the jack-up rig Trident IX were evacuated without injury to a service vessel. It said it expected insurance to cover the cost of the damage that appeared to be limited to the drill floor area. The incident which occurred on Thursday in the Madura Straits, offshore East Java, was caused by an uncontrollable release of natural gas which subsequently ignited.

Oil Search Ltd., Papua New Guinea's biggest oil producer, expects to reach agreements with the government and partners by the year-end allowing a decision to start designing a $10b liquefied natural gas project. The economic viability of the Exxon Mobil Corp.-led LNG project has been ``fully tested'' and talks are underway with the government on fiscal terms, Port Moresby-based Oil Search said in a presentation lodged with the Australian Stock Exchange, according to a Bloomberg report. Oil Search may own between 28 percent and 32 percent of the venture, once the state and landowners take up stakes. The group is studying tapping gas from the Hides…

China National Offshore Oil Corp (CNOOC) has signed an LNG delivery agreement with Shell, Total and French energy company Suez. The company has signed the LNG spot delivery master agreement with the three companies. The agreement will lead these companies into China's LNG spot market, and make a reasonable profit for them. Santos Ltd said it has signed a production sharing contract with the Vietnam Oil and Gas Corp (Petrovietnam) for an exploration site in the Song Hong basin, offshore Vietnam. Santos, Australia's second largest oil and gas company, will conduct the exploration and hold a 55 pct interest while Singapore Petroleum Co Ltd will hold the remaining 45 pct share.

Australian liquefied natural gas export sales may surge by 22 percent next fiscal year, thanks to the start-up of new plants to meet rising demand for the fuel in Asia, Bloomberg reported. The value of LNG exports is forecast to rise to $4.5 billion in the year ending June 30, 2007, after a forecast 56 percent jump this year. The ConocoPhillips-led Bayu-Undan LNG venture started shipping LNG to Japan from its Darwin plant this quarter, while the Woodside Petroleum Ltd.-operated North West Shelf venture is due to start LNG shipments to China in April from its expanded plant in Western Australia. Woodside, Royal Dutch Shell Plc and BHP Billiton are also among companies seeking to export LNG from Australia to buyers in North America.

Santos Ltd said it plans to boost its expenditure on exploration to $169.3 million in 2006, from $140.6 million last year, focusing on liquefied natural gas and oil potential in a 25-well high-impact exploration program, Forbes reported. The program reflects the widening geographical nature of its exploration portfolio.17 of the 25 wildcat wells will be drilled outside of Australia, including eight wells in the company's core Indonesian area and two in its emerging Timor-Bonaparte region between Australia and East Timor. Seven wells will be drilled in new areas of interest including three in Egypt and four in the shallow waters of the Gulf of Mexico.