A less impressive Leviathan
The Woodside-attracting Leviathan LNG project in offshore Israel has lost some shine with a recent report revealing the $US250 million ($A265 million) Leviathan Deep oil-hunting exploration well planned for next month could be delayed for at least six months.
The Globes business news service in Israel reported the Atwood Advantage ultra deepwater drillship built for the job was still in a South Korean shipyard and not likely to arrive until the second half of 2014.
It also reports expensive equipment for developing the gas field has been sent out of the country amid "continuing uncertainty".
The New York-listed project operator Noble Energy is reportedly blaming regulatory uncertainty while the joint venture is awaiting a licences-related decision from Antitrust Authority director general David Gilo.
Israel's economy is reportedly poised for a gas shortage from 2015.
Woodside has still not closed the non-binding deal it struck 11 months ago to buy a 30% stake in the project.
The deep exploration well was targeting up to 1.5 billion barrels of oil and given a 25% chance of success.
Subcontractors killed by Total explosion
An explosion at Total's Antwerp refinery in Belgium reportedly killed two workers from a subcontractor.
According to Reuters the French supermajor said the blast occurred at about 2pm local time in a steam system of a gasoline producing unit.
Total reportedly said there was no fire or release of any hydrocarbons into the atmosphere and the situation was under control.
According to euronews, a local newspaper reported there had been problems with installation work at the refinery for several days and subcontractors were called in to "fix a leak".
King Ranch burns
ExxonMobil's King Ranch gas plant in south Texas was hit by an explosion on Sunday night with management deciding to let the subsequent fire burn out.
KiiiTV reported the fire was deep inside property grounds with Exxon releasing very little information other than saying all personnel were accounted for.
"The cause of the accident is still being investigated, and they plan to let the fire burn itself out," the TV station reported.
The plant has been shutdown with the fire reportedly contained in a single area within the facility.
Statoil not worried about gas prices
Norway's Statoil has shifted away from oil price-linked gas pricing among its recent supply contracts in Europe.
Statoil reportedly told the Financial Times all of its German contracts and nearly all of its UK, Dutch and Belgian contracts were referencing regional gas hub prices "which the EU has been promoting as it seeks a more open gas market".
However, Societe Generale senior gas analyst Thierry Bros reportedly said prices at European gas hubs had rallied strongly towards oil-indexed prices in recent years and expected little impact on Statoil and Gazprom's European gas-related revenues.
