the next 4 x flng for australia's north

Another good article highlighting that ES is not considered in the mix of the next 4 x FLNG for northern Australia.

ADL


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Offshore developments’ new wave about to break

By RUSSELL SEARANCKE Perth

02 May 2014 00:00 GMT

The next wave of offshore developments in Australia is yet to materialise — but some operators are doing enough to suggest that meaningful progress is on the cards for this year.

At the top of the list are four proposed floating LNG projects — Woodside’s Browse, GdF Suez’s Bonaparte, PTTEP’s Cash-Maple and ExxonMobil’s Scarborough.

All four could enter the front-end engineering and design phase this year.

The next crop of potential projects, but still undefined, are BHP Billiton’s Tallaganda, Apache’s Greater Zola, Woodside’s Greater Enfield (Laverda), and ConocoPhillips’ Poseidon.

Meanwhile, Malaysia’s Hibiscus Petroleum is quietly developing the small West Seahorse oilfield off south-east Australia, and Hydra Energy is developing its string of marginal oil discoveries off Western Australia.

One of the unanswered questions in Australia is what Hess intends to do about its Equus gas resources. The US independent is estimated to have spent more than A$500 million ($462 million) in the exploration and appraisal phase in Block WA-390-P, but Equus is in deadlock while Hess figures out how best to monetise, or divest, the deep-water resource.


Browse plans Woodside’s chief science and technology manager, Neil Kavanagh, said recently that Woodside is confident about Browse going ahead as currently planned.

That plan involves three floating LNG production vessels being deployed in a phased manner, with front-end engineering and design to start in the second half of 2014, and a final investment decision next year.

Likewise, GdF Suez’s schedule for the Bonaparte FLNG project, and PTTP’s ambitions for the Cash-­Maple FLNG development, entails entering the FEED stage this year.

Scarborough, too, is heading for a big year in 2014. Big is the operative word, given that ExxonMobil plans to build the world’s largest floating vessel to tap the field. ExxonMobil said last month that “floating LNG is being progressed as the lead development concept, and early engineering activities are under way”.

Scarborough has already received the ­federal government’s nod of approval to proceed.

However, the other 50% of Scarborough is held by BHP Billiton, which recently drew attention to greenfield LNG projects being “economically challenged” when they “do not benefit from the upside associated with existing brownfield infrastructure”.

“As you know, Scarborough sits within close proximity to major (existing) LNG processing capacity in Western Australia, and any development option must compete for capital within the broader portfolio.

“Again, we will pursue the path for Scarborough that maximises shareholder value,” said BHPB’s petroleum president Tim Cutt at a recent briefing.

“At Scarborough, floating LNG continues to be evaluated as a potential development concept, although the ability to leverage existing onshore infrastructure... will also be considered,” he added.

The next crop of potential projects are a smaller set, and are still undefined, but are opportunities for owners and services ­players.

BHPB’s Tallaganda project is based on a big gas discovery of the same name in 1141 metres of water in the Exmouth region.


Follow-up opportunities It was the company’s biggest discovery in 2012, and opened up a large area of captured acreage with many potential follow-up opportunities.

One of those was the Bunyip-1 prospect, about 10 kilometres south of Tallaganda.

Bunyip was drilled in February using the semi-submersible Jack Bates, are still under evaluation.

A BHPB spokesperson said the results of Bunyip would “have a significant impact on how we progress Tallaganda”. Meanwhile, Apache has a respectable gas resource in the Greater Zola area of about 600 billion cubic feet of gas, according to co-owner Tap Oil.

Apache has its hands full with bringing on stream new production of 25,000 barrels net per day of oil equivalent from several new projects.

Woodside, too, has not yet articulated its vision for the Greater Enfield area, although the Toro well being drilled currently will help to define a plan, if successful, that could encompass the Laverda and Ragnar discoveries.

Woodside also has a sizeable undeveloped gas resource in its 100%-owned Block WA-404-P, which contains five finds — Martin, Martell, Noblige, Larsen and Remy.

Woodside renewed the permit last July, and has a commitment before July 2015 to acquire 700 square kilometres of 3D seismic.

Finally, ConocoPhillips has been wrestling with reserves and reservoir issues in the Poseidon and Caldita-Barossa areas