The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company’s (ADNOC) announced, has announced plans to launch a new integrated gas strategy and increase its oil production capacity to 4 million barrels per day (mmbpd) by the end of 2020 and 5mmbpd by 2030 following approval from the Supreme Petroleum Council. The company also announced capital investment growth of $132.33 billion between 2019-2023 and new discoveries of 1 billion barrels of oil. ADNOC’s gas strategy will add potential resources that will enable the UAE to achieve gas self-sufficiency, with the aim of potentially transitioning to a net gas exporter.
Industry


Gazprom and Sinopec capex to top US$259 bn by 2025
Gazprom and China Petrochemical Corp (Sinopec) are likely to be the top spenders among global oil and gas companies with new build capital expenditure (capex) on planned and announced projects across the oil and gas value chain during 2018–2025. According to a report by data and analytics company GlobalData, Gazprom and Sinopec’s spend across the oil and gas value chain' are likely to lead with an estimated capex of US$170.2bn expected on 93 oil and gas projects globally. Sinopec and Royal Dutch Shell Plc (Shell) follow with capex of US$88.9bn (69 projects) and US$84.5bn (107 projects), respectively.

Bass Oil achieves record oil production at Indonesia field
Bass Oil (ASX: BAS) has announced that it produced a record monthly oil production of 27,795 barrels of oil JV share, or 15,287 barrels Bass share, from its Indonesian Tangai-Sukananti KSO during the month of October. This represents an average daily rate of 896 barrels of oil per day, a 7% increase over the previous Joint Venture production record of 26,077 bbls set in October 2015 and a 63% increase over September 2018 production levels of 17,081 barrels of oil Joint Venture share.

TGS announces Q3 results earnings per share up 78%
Oslo-listed marine seismic data providers TGS has posted a net income of $16,8 million for the third quarter of 2018, compared to 9 million in the third quarter of 2017, with net operating revenues of $140.7 million showing a decrease of 1% compared to $141.7 million in Q3 2017.

Seven Australian exploration permit awards target $530 million
The Australian Government has awarded seven offshore exploration permits which it believes could yield an investment of more than $530 million over the next six years. Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Matt Canavan said the granting of seven permits finalised the Government’s 2017 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release. According to the minister, strong bidding for round one of the 2018 Offshore Petroleum Exploration Acreage Release had been “encouraging” and new permits could see more than $530 million invested over the next six years.

US LNG liquefaction over capacity, set to reach 8.9 bcfd by 2020
The US will have a total of 8.9 billion cubic feet per day (bcfd) equating to 66.7 million tons per annum (mtpa) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) liquefaction capacity from currently planned and sanctioned projects by 2020, according to data and analytics company GlobalData. Presently about 77% of the US LNG volume exported is contracted under a long-term scheme. Through these contracts, US LNG production competes whenever an arbitrage window is created to export cargoes, based on shipping costs and natural gas landed prices in the destination markets. By the end of 2017 the total LNG trade accounted for 9.

Professor Kurt Lambeck receives Prime Minister’s prize
Emeritus Professor and geophysicist, Kurt Lambeck (ANU), received the Prime Minister’s Prizes for Science for his work on the ‘breathing Earth’, detecting sea level change, and developing precise navigation, using geophysical techniques. This award is an important step in the recognition of the importance of geosciences for Australia’s future. Kurt’s original work in the 1960s enabled accurate planning of space missions. It led him to use the deformation of continents during the ice ages to study changes deep in the mantle of the planet.

Wood wins new IRPC contract in south east Asia
Wood has been awarded a new contract by IRPC Plc for its Maximum Aromatics (MARS) project, leveraging its operations in the south-east Asian oil and gas market. Wood will provide frontend engineering design (FEED) for the world-scale paraxylene complex to be built at IRPC’s existing integrated petrochemical complex in Rayong Province, Thailand. The one-year contract will be delivered from Wood’s offices in Sriracha, Thailand, and secures around 100 jobs in-country.

Geoscience awards its top guns with national honour
Two of Australia’s foremost proponents of better ways to discover our natural resources using great science have been honoured in Adelaide by Australia’s Geoscience sector. The title of “National Geoscience Champion” has been bestowed by the Australian Geoscience Council (AGC) on each of Dr Marita Bradshaw of Canberra and Emeritus Professor David Groves of Perth, at an industry peer dinner in Adelaide hosted as part of the AGC’s inaugural four-day Convention last week in Adelaide.

PESA QLD 2018 Symposium Exploration: Back in the game
September 6th saw the return of the PESA Queensland annual Symposium. The theme this year was Exploration: Back in the Game, a fitting theme as increasing oil price sees an increase in activity within the state.
The festivities kicked off on Wednesday evening at the Southbank Beer Garden with an Icebreaker where the presenters, organisers, attendees and sponsors mingled. This casual affair was enjoyed by all and has been a regular feature of the Annual PESA QLD Symposium.
As delegates arrived Thursday morning, they were greeted by the aroma from the Comet Ridge Limited sponsored coffee cart and a selection of Exhibition Booths presented by ALS, ERC, GeoConsult, GSQ, Synterra and Velseis.
