An oil company has pleaded guilty to breaching its duty to provide a safe workplace after the death of two workers on a rig. Stena Drilling Australia is expected to be sentenced next month after entering the plea at a Magistrates Court in Victoria. It followed the deaths of floorman Peter Meddens and toolpusher Barry Denholm who had been working on the Stena Clyde mobile offshore drilling unit.
Aubrey McClendon, the wildcatter who pioneered the US shale revolution by going where big oil companies wouldn’t, is at it again. This time in Australia.
Santos Ltd., Australia’s third-largest oil and gas producer, posted an 82 percent slump in first-half profit after a fall in oil prices. Net income fell to A$37 million ($27 million) in the six months ending in June, from A$206 million a year earlier, the Adelaide-based company said Friday in a statement. That compared with an estimate of A$41 million from Macquarie Group Ltd.
Santos Ltd. Chief Executive Officer David Knox will step down after seven years in the role as the Australian oil producer reviews its options amid a plunge in crude prices, the company said Friday. Knox will depart once a successor has been named, the Adelaide-based company said in a statement after reporting an 82 percent drop in first-half profit. The slide in oil prices has put pressure on Santos as the company prepares to start its $18.5 billion liquefied natural gas project in Queensland state. The Australian energy producer has cut spending and jobs while flagging the possibility of asset sales as it copes with the oil market downturn. Santos shares have fallen 62 percent in the last year.
Work has begun on two test wells that could unlock Australia's biggest undeveloped onshore gas field .
Chevron has awarded a contract for work on its Barrow Island assets in Australia to engineering company Monadelphous. The move has given the company a jobs boost with 500 people expected to be employed to perform work under the three-year agreement.
Australian producer Tap Oil has appointed Michele Ryan as its new company secretary and general counsel.
Australia is expected to announce plans to reduce its carbon emissions by at least 26% of 2005 levels by 2030. The move could see the country trail ahead of other regions. Australia is the world’s largest exporter of coal and iron ore and is one of the largest carbon emitters on a per capita basis due to its reliance on coal-fired power plants.
Work is well underway on Chevron's Wheatstone Project. One of Australia's largest resource projects, it will also be the country's first natural gas hub.
Wood Group has won a new contract to carry out front end engineering and design (FEED) work for the proposed Woodside Browse Floating Liquefied Natural Gas (FLNG) development. The 12 month contract for the project offshore Western Australia, is worth $6million and will be carried out by Wood Group Kenny (WGK). The company will perform all design engineering for the insulated production flowline system required for the assets offshore gas-condensate fields from their offices in Perth. The three assets – Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa – are 300km from the Kimberley coast.
AWE Limited has said it will not proceed with the second planned phase of the Drover-1 exploration program. The company, along with its joint venture partner, Titan Energy Limited has also chosen not to fracture stimulate the well.
Australia’s oil and gas industry body APPEA has called on an inquiry into unconventional gas in the state of Victoria to support ‘sensible policies’. The move comes after a fracking moratorium was introduced in the region three years ago. The APPEA claims the state is the only in Australia to ban new investment in developing its onshore gas resources.
The full-scale of Shell's incredible Prelude FLNG project has begun to take shape as the last of the topside modules have been moved into place. The oil giant has captured footage of the moment the module was safely installed.
Global Maritime has been awarded a contract to provide mooring and rig positioning services to the Australian oil and gas company Woodside.
Senvion SE is discussing a proposed A$1.5 billion ($1.2 billion) wind farm in Australia with potential investors after parliament passed a new clean energy target. Senvion expects to start construction of the Ceres wind farm in the second half of 2016, the local unit of the German company wrote in an e-mail response to questions. The project will have 600 megawatts of capacity, making it the largest in the state of South Australia, its website shows.
General Electric Co. agreed to help develop a A$450 million ($348 million) wind farm in Australia, spurred by parliament’s approval of a new renewable energy target. GE will supply turbines to the 240-megawatt Ararat wind farm in the state of Victoria that’s being developed with partners including Renewable Energy Systems Ltd., according to a statement from the companies. The development is expected to become the nation’s third-largest wind farm.
Long-frustrated wind and solar developers in Australia can now get to work on more than A$14 billion ($11 billion) in projects after a new renewable energy target passed parliament. Acciona SA, the Spanish clean-energy company, will start talks with banks and retailers as it progresses with A$750 million in new wind farms. SunEdison Inc., the U.S. solar company, said it will look at developing large projects in Australia.
AWE Limited has reached total depth at the Waitsia-1 appraisal well in the Perth Basin, Western Australia. The company said the Holmwood Shale was intersected at 3,490metres and total depth was achieved 17metres into the Holmwood Shale. Wireline logs will be run over a number of intervals, including the Dongara and Kingia Sandstones.
WorleyParsons Ltd., Australia’s largest oil services business, said second-half earnings will fall about 50 percent from the first half as it cuts 2,000 jobs and reduces work due to falling commodity prices. There will be about A$125 million ($98 million) in one-time costs to pay for redundancies and cancel rental contracts early, in particular in North America, the Sydney-based engineer said Monday in a statement. The forecast drop would result in net income of about A$52 million, about 62 percent below the A$137 million median of three analyst estimates for the period compiled.
AWE Limited has spudded the Irwin-1 exploration well in Western Australia’s Perth Basin. The company is currently operating the Irwin-1 drilling program under an joint agency agreement with joint venture partner, Origin Energy Limited. The well is looking to test the gas potential to the east of the Senecio and Waitsia gas fields and is targeting the Dongara and Wagina tight sandstone formations, the Carynginia Shale and Irwin River Coal Measures.
An Aberdeen firm set up by two entrepreneurs has completed a survey of its promising gas field in Australia. Warrego Energy,founded by Dennis Donald and Duncan MacNiven, expects to drill the West Erregulla field at the end of this year or in early 2016 following completion of the seismic survey. The company undertook significant preparatory work to ensure the site’s cultural and botanic heritage is preserved.
A submersible drilling unit which drifted towards a liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant has been moved away from the infrastructure. Woodside Petroleum temporarily shut down its $15billion plan after the Atwood Osprey rig drifted near to its flowlines. The move was made after the rig, which had been drilling at Chevron's Wheatstone LNG project, was torn from its moorings in a cyclone.
Woodside Petroleum has been forced to shut down its $15billion Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant after a submersible drilling rig began to drift near to its flowlines. The Australian operator said the move was taken after the rig was torn from its moorings in a cyclone. The rig had been drilling at Chevron’s Wheatstone LNG project nearby.
Woodside Petroleum’s proposed $3.75billion acquisition of Apache’s interest in three projects will not be opposed by the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC). The company is looking to acquire interests in the Wheatstone, Balnaves and Kitimat Projects. The first and second project are located in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, offshore Western Australia, while the Kitimat Project is located in British Columbia, Canada.
An Australian energy company has announced the discovery of oil in a well in the south of the country.