Australia will account for all floating production, storage and offloading vessels (FPSOs) planned for deployment in Oceania during 2019–2025, according to GlobalData. The data and analytic company’s report reveals that 67 planned and announced FPSOs are expected to start operations globally between 2019 and 2025. Of these, 26 are planned and 41 are announced. In Oceania, all the five upcoming FPSOs – Barossa, Browse 1, Browse 2, Buffalo (Re-Development), and Crux – are announced FPSOs. Woodside Browse Ltd. leads among operators with two upcoming FPSOs, which are expected to commence operations during the outlook period.
Industry
AGIG Pluto facility taps into more gas for WA
The Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) has announced the successful commissioning of the Pluto Inlet Station – the new facility connecting the Pluto LNG Project to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP). The successful commissioning allows additional gas supply to reach Western Australian consumers. Woodside – which operates the Pluto LNG plant near Karratha in WA – engaged AGIG’s development group to undertake a Front End Engineering Design (FEED) study to convert an existing outlet meter station to an inlet facility, along with the required compression.
APPEA says gas industry to play key role in hydrogen future
APPEA has welcomed the release of the Australian Labor Party’s National Hydrogen Plan. “There is tremendous interest in hydrogen as a new, cleaner fuel. Labor’s promise to direct $1 billion into funding of hydrogen research and commercial development would spur investment into this emerging technology,” said APPEA Chief Executive Malcolm Roberts. The Hydrogen Strategy Group, chaired by the Chief Scientist, Professor Alan Finkel AO, has highlighted the opportunity for Australia to export liquified hydrogen alongside liquefied natural gas (LNG) to meet the growing demand for cleaner energy across the Asia-Pacific.
Woodside announces Scarborough contracts
Woodside has awarded four contracts for front-end engineering design activities for the proposed Scarborough project located offshore Australia. The Perth-headquartered company said the contracts were for engineering activities related to the upstream development’s floating production unit, the export trunkline, and the subsea umbilical risers and flowlines. Woodside said each contract includes an option to progress to execute phase activities, which is subject to, among other conditions, a positive final investment decision (FID) being taken on the project by the Scarborough Joint Venture.
China to account for 44% of Asia’s crude oil refining capacity in 2023
China will drive the majority of growth in the crude oil refining industry in Asia between 2018 and 2023, contributing 44% of Asia’s crude oil refining capacity within five years. That was the conclusion drawn by data and analytics company, GlobalData, in its company report entitled: 'China Crude Oil Refinery Outlook to 2023'. The report reveals that the total refining capacity of China in 2018 was 15,994 thousand barrels per day (mbd), which was 46% of Asia's total refining capacity in 2018. The country’s total refining capacity is forecast to increase at an average annual growth rate (AAGR) of 4.
Australian LNG hit new highs in 2018
Australian LNG exports reached 69.5 Mt in 2018, up 23.0% from 56.5 Mt in 2017, EnergyQuest has revealed in its latest LNG report. The energy advisory firm said the start-up of the Ichthys project during 2018 and continued good performance of Wheatstone, which started production from Train 2 during 2018, has made a major contribution to the growth in Australian exports. The long-awaited Prelude project also began production in late December with the first cargoes expected in early 2019. The report further revealed that: Notwithstanding media headlines about “record” Queensland LNG exports, east coast exports only grew by 0.3 Mt.
Alaska Gasline Development Corp tops capex charts in North America
Alaska Gasline Development Corp (AGDC) is the top spender among all oil and gas companies in North America, in terms of new build capital expenditure (capex) to be spent during 2018–2025, on planned and announced projects across midstream and downstream segments (including petrochemicals). This was revealed in a report by data and analytics company GlobalData which confirmed that AGDC tops the list with capex of US$37.3bn, followed by Canada Stewart Energy and NextDecade Corp with capex of US$30.3bn and US$28.4bn, respectively.
Mount Barker “big winner” from AER approval of new $33 million natural gas pipeline
The Australian Energy Regulator (AER) has given its approval to a proposed extension of Australian Gas Networks’ (AGN) South Australian natural gas network to Mount Barker. The approval, granted in late December, is for a new 40km, $33 million natural gas pipeline extending the existing natural gas network from Murray Bridge, through Monarto South and Kanmantoo, to the Mount Barker region. Welcoming the AER final approval, AGN Chief Customer Officer, Mr Andrew Staniford, said the company was able to move ahead with finalising specific technical details and to once again engage with affected landholders along the proposed pipeline route.
Bass Oil backs out of Indonesian deal
Australian-based Indonesian oil producer, Bass Oil has decided to withdraw from the acquisition of a 100% participating interest in the North Madura Production Sharing Contract (PSC) (Java) from AziPac Limited. Bass Oil announced that finalisation of the acquisition was subject to the execution of a detailed sale and purchase agreement and Bass being satisfied with the results of its due diligence enquiries on the two AziPac subsidiaries - which were to be acquired by Bass to effect the transaction.
Sercel Awarded Contract for 100,000-Channel 508XT Land Seismic Acquisition System
CGG announces that Sercel has been awarded a contract by a major data acquisition company to supply land seismic equipment for a large onshore 3D seismic survey in the Middle East. The contract includes 100,000 Sercel 508XT channels equipped with strings of 12 SG-10 geophones. This large-scale 3D project encompasses several diverse environments, including areas with limited access, such as industrial complexes, agricultural land and urban areas. The 508XT system is an ideal choice for these challenging conditions: its unique fault-tolerant cross-technology (X-Tech®) architecture, including local storage and automatic data rerouting, simplifies field operations and enables continuous acquisition.