US Independent Hess Corporation has taken the decision to write down the full value of the Equus development by $933 million.
The New York-headquartered company has revealed its focus will switch to the Bakken Shale, the Valhall field in Norway and the Liza field, offshore Guyana, leaving Equus and joint venture partner Woodside with the challenge on how to expedite the Western Australian offshore discovery.
Sixteen wells were drilled in the prospect over the past six years, resulting in 14 gas discoveries in WA-70, WA-390-P and WA-474-P.
Tie-in options to bring the gas onshore for processing to the North West Shelf have been considered and Woodside had engaged engineering studies with a view to taking Equus to an FID launchpad in 2017.
The eight discovered fields at Equus had been earmarked for development with a central semi-submersible processing facility using a subsea hub and spoke arrangement, and looms large as an option for continued gas supply required to keep all five North West Shelf trains at optimum output in coming years.
Hess has set its 2017 exploration and production and exploration budget at US$2.25 billion, up from an actual spend of US$1.9 billion in 2016.
The company has allocated US$700 million for unconventional shale resources, US$375 million for production, US$825 million for developments and US$350 million for exploration and appraisal activities.
