Latest News

Are Electric Vehicles Really Disruptors in the Australian Petroleum Markets?

19/11/2024 Posted by Dale

By Max Williamson

Potential buyers and users of EV’s need to be extremely wary and questioning of the claims, counter claims and promo materials being put out by the vested interests.

If UBER is getting completely out of hybrids for its fleet, there must be economic support for EV’s versus hybrids for higher use operators and commercial fleets.

The second-hand market for older model EV’s, including Teslas is dramatically negatively impacted by the age of the batteries therein, the warranties periods remaining on the batteries and the then version of the EV technologies in those vehicles.

COP29: TotalEnergies to deploy continuous, real-time methane emissions detection equipment on all its operated upstream assets

19/11/2024 Posted by Dale

As part of its ambition to aim for near-zero methane emissions by 2030, TotalEnergies has announced it will monitor and reduce methane emissions with the deployment of continuous, real-time detection equipment at all of its operated Upstream sites.

Since 2022, TotalEnergies said it has been pursuing its ambition to aim for near-zero methane operated emissions in 2030: the Company will meet as soon as this year and target to reduce emissions by 50% compared to 2020, a year ahead of plan.

TotalEnergies said it was thus "well on track to achieve the targeted 80% reduction by 2030.

Shell wins appeal against 2021 ruling that ordered the supermajor to reduce carbon footprint by 45%.

19/11/2024 Posted by Dale

Shell has won an appeal against a 2021 ruling that ordered the supermajor to reduce its carbon footprint by 45%.

The appeals court, which was heard in The Hague, Netherlands, found that Shell did have a responsibility to cut emissions, but not by a stipulated amount.

The 2021 ruling had found that Shell should slash emissions by 45% by 2030, compared to 2019 levels.

The court said Shell was already on track to meet its own emission reduction targets and it was uncertain if demands that it further reduce emissions caused by the use of its products would help the battle against climate change.

‘Hands off Gallagher,’ he’s ‘Staying at Santos’

19/11/2024 Posted by Dale

SANTOS has raised eyebrows with a stern rebuttal of reports that it’s CEO Kevin Gallagher was destined to replace Chris Ellison as chief executive of Minres.

This came after Ellison, MinRes’s founder and the company’s biggest shareholder fell foul of ASX reporting on tax related issues and the company announced he would be stepping down as CEO within 12-18 months.

The West Australian had reported that Gallagher,59, Australia;’s longest serving energy CEO, over the past 9-years, could be ticked off as a potential candidate.

Santos responded almost immediately, dismissing any such suggestion as “completely fabricated, without foundation and false”.

The masthead handballed responsibility to MST Marquee energy analyst Saul Kavonic who it said had “speculated” in his daily newsletter that Gallagher could be MinRes bound in the not-too-distant future.

Moomba CCS Start-up

15/11/2024 Posted by Matthew.Quinn

Beach Energy announced on 17 October the successful commissioning and start-up of the Moomba Carbon Capture and Storage project.

All facilities, including five injection wells, CO2 dehydration and CO2 pipelines have been brought to capacity. The project is targeting capture and storage of 1.7 million tonnes of CO2 per annum in depleted Strzelecki and Marabooka field reservoirs.

Final Investment Decision for the project was announced in November 2021 and 60% completion was reached in May 2023 with the arrival of the compressor and turbine.

Moomba CCS is the third CCS project in Australia and follows the Otway International Test Centre and the Gorgon CCS project.

Airborne Survey Wraps up in Victoria

08/11/2024 Posted by Dale

An airborne gravity survey across southern and eastern Victoria has been completed by Sander Geophysical.

The airborne survey was collaboratively organised through Surveyor-General Victoria within the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP), Geological Survey of Victoria within the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) and Geoscience Australia (Commonwealth Government).

The objective of the survey was to collect consistent and evenly distributed gravity measurements. The new gravity data will significantly improve Victoria’s gravity model which is used to provide accurate and reliable heights from GPS positioning.

Viridien, TGS and Aquila Holdings announce successful completion of the Utsira OBN reprocessing project

07/11/2024 Posted by Dale

Viridien and its partners TGS and Aquila Holdings (under its subsidiary Axxis Multi-client AS) have announced the completion and delivery of the reprocessing of the Utsira ocean bottom node (OBN) seismic survey in the Norwegian North Sea.Viridien said it had reprocessed the resulting data set with its latest OBN imaging technologies, including time-lag full-waveform inversion, and advanced velocity model building techniques, to yield "significant improvements in image resolution and frequency content for fault interpretation and reservoir characterization workflows". https://lnkd.in/gBNDPsTE

Shearwater Awarded Large 3D Frontier Exploration Survey in Suriname

06/11/2024 Posted by Dale

Shearwater Geoservices has been awarded a large 3D seismic survey by PETRONAS in Suriname. The project, covering 6,000 square kilometres, marks the continuation of Shearwater’s commitment to PETRONAS in this frontier area having previously performed acquisition work in Block 52.

The Amazon Warrior has been allocated to the three-month project, commencing in Q4 2024.

“High-quality seismic data is a key enabler for unlocking the vast resource potential of the prolific Suriname-Guyana basin and accelerating exploration activities.

Shearwater’s state-of-the-art technology and capabilities enable safe and efficient acquisition of exploration seismic data with the highest quality for our clients, supporting their ambitions in this exiting area.” said Irene Waage Basili, CEO of Shearwater.

Gina Rinehart scoops up MinRes’s Onshore Assets

05/11/2024 Posted by Dale

Gina Rinehart, Australia’s richest woman and probably the country’s richest person, is putting her money on a gas future by acquiring MinRes’s onshore oil and gas assets in the Perth and The Carnarvon Basins for $1.1 billion.

A s part of the binding Sale and Purchase Agreement Hancock Prospecting will acquire 100% ownership of MinRes's Exploration Permits 368 and 426 in the Perth Basin, with two Joint Venture Agreements established for the remaining onshore Perth Basin and Carnarvon Basin exploration acreage..

MinRes's published maiden resources for the Lockyer Gas Project and Erregulla oil Project reflects one of the largest onshore gas and oil discoveries in Western Australia, and the company had reportedly been reviewing options to commercialise its gas exploration acreage.

Keystone State will open Door to The White House with Fossil Fuel and Fraccing a Focal Point

03/11/2024 Posted by Dale

By Dale Granger

With the 2024 US election on the cusp of being announced, energy is once again front and centre in the tussle between Kamala Harris’s Democrats and Donald Trump’s MAGA movement for the keys of the White House.

At the time of going to press the election was balanced on a knife edge with all eyes focussed on Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral college votes, notably the prolific Utica and Marcellus shale basins, fraccing and the other “swing states”: Arizona, Georgia Michigan, Nevada, North Carolina, Wisconsin and Nevada, that have traditionally defined USA ballot box battles, boasting an accumulative 93 electoral college votes and perceived as purple with the potential to flip either red or blue.