Not to be outdone was Perth-based Woodside Petroleum. A decision last year to adopt US accounting practice in relation to exploration expenses - to bring it into line with international standards - meant a one-off loss of $715 million. Together with the write off of its Oil Search investment, Woodside lost nearly $800 million in 2002 to record a net loss of $92 million.
However, it was not all bad news for the two giants. Apart from the $75 million Santos surprise, the underlying profit figures from both companies were in line with market expectations. In addition, both announced strong cash flows, increasing hydrocarbon reserves as well as aggressive exploration and development programs to overcome short-term production dips.
In other market news, Tap Oil reported a strong half year result thanks to higher oil prices and surging production from the Harriet Joint Venture with Apache Energy. With the Double Island Oil Field just completed for production and first oil from Woollybutt scheduled to come onstream next month, Tap Oil and its shareholders are looking forward to a strong full year result in June.
While we keep ourselves busy over corporate comings and goings, it should not be forgotten real people work on real rigs in real danger. This was brought home this week after the tragic death of a worker on a rig off the Dampier coast in a freak accident. It is understood a refrigerated container he was unloading fell off the deck, bounced off a safety rail and plunged 30m into the sea. It was the first fatality for the WA oil and gas industry in eight years. Our condolences to the worker's family and colleagues.
Out in the frontier, Shell has moved to reduce its presence in northern Australia amid speculation it has put Sunrise on the backburner to concentrate its energy on a Russian gas project. Shell sold its interests in three offshore permits in Joseph Bonaparte Gulf, one of which covers the 1tcf Blacktip gas field, to Woodside for an undisclosed sum. Woodside will be looking to expands its options for northern Australian gas development feeding into Darwin.
Partners drilling in and around the Cliff Head prospect in the Perth Basin will be hoping for third time lucky for their last pure wildcat well, Vindara-1, which spudded this week. The last two wildcats, Twin Lions and Mentelle, were plugged and abandoned as dry holes. Following Vindara, the Cliff Head drilling program will end with an appraisal well.
It was an interesting week for our friends in the renewable energy business. Cost blowouts forced a consortium planning to supply electricity to Derby and Broome using tidal power to throw in the towel for a Western Power contract bid.
ASX-listed geothermal player Geodynamics began drilling for hot rock energy in the Cooper Basin. For the uninitiated, the theory is that water can be injected into fractured hot rock and then recovered as steam to drive turbines to produce electricity.
Meanwhile, Amadeus Energy announced it has raised $8 million for Australia's first biodiesel plant that will use animal fat and canola oil as feedstock to produce 40 million litres of biofuel. It was welcome news for the budding Perth-based energy company, who earlier in the week announced its latest Pitchfork Prospect (onshore Texas) wildcat was a duster. This means all three Pitchfork wildcats have been plugged and abandoned as dry holes. So much for "low risk" oil and gas exploration and production in Texas.
In overseas news, the hard sell has begun for partners in the Pohokura gas field to convince the NZ's consumer watchdog of the merits of their plan to jointly sell Pohokura gas.
There will be no hard selling, just hard bargaining in a post-Saddam Iraq as oil majors jostle for position. With the second largest reserves in the world needing up to $US40 billion in investment to upgrade facilities, its no wonder the competition is intense between the majors, with their respective governments looking on.
Finally, Nigeria is looking to emulate Venezuela as workers in the sixth largest oil producer go on strike - not to depose their President - but to seek better pay and conditions. Speaking of Venezuela, Hugo Chavez is declaring victory with oil production back to nearly two-thirds of pre-strike levels.
