Prelude to LNG
Royal Dutch Shell has reported a major gas discovery at its Prelude prospect in Browse Basin permit WA-371-P.
Prelude could well be an extension of the giant Ichthys gas field in the neighbouring permit held by Japanese major Inpex and France's Total.
Meanwhile Santos has said early next year, it aims to drill the Ichthys North prospect in partnership with Inpex and Total.
Success at this prospect would add to the momentum for a major new liquefied natural gas hub in the region, but unitisation talks could be required.
Shell is hoping to develop its own northwest Australian LNG hub as operator.
In its winning bid for the WA-371-P permit, the company committed to 12 wells in the first three years.
This activity rate is believed to be more than double that of the next highest bidder.
Meanwhile, about 120km south of Ichthys, Nexus and Shell have spudded the Fossetmaker-1 appraisal well, Fossetmaker-1, at their Echuca Shoals prospect.
Nexus has high hopes this acreage will be part of a future LNG project.
Gladstone mini-LNG project to cost $400m: LNG Ltd
A pre-feasibility study has confirmed a 1 million tonne per year LNG export project involving Arrow Energy and LNG Ltd is technically and commercially viable.
The finding follows a heads of agreement between the two companies, in which Arrow agreed to supply about 55 petajoules of gas per year from its coal seam methane operations to the facility proposed for Gladstone Port.
LNG Ltd said the pre-feasibility study estimated a 1MMtpa facility would cost about $US350 million ($A407 million).
The company plans to start a detailed feasibility study to allow it to achieve financial close by this time next year.
FEED for Reindeer
Rising Western Australian gas prices have led Reindeer partners Apache Energy and Santos to begin front-end engineering and design studies for the Reindeer gas field in Western Australia's offshore Carnarvon Basin.
Reindeer is in permit WA-209-P, operated by Apache Energy (55%) in partnership with Santos (45%).
Discovered in 1997, the field has a gross recoverable resource range of 410- 640 petajoules (390-610 billion cubic feet) of gas.
The FEED studies will focus on the preferred development option – an unmanned offshore platform with a pipeline to a new gas processing facility to be sited on the mainland.
The proposed production capacity is about 110 terajoules per day of sales gas, with first gas targeted for mid 2010.
"The new onshore processing facility will increase the security of gas supply into the domestic Western Australian market by adding incremental processing capacity away from the existing plants at Varanus Island and the North West Shelf," Santos said.
Triumph and disappointment in Carnarvon Basin
BHP Billiton intersected a 73m gas column at the Thebe-1 exploration well, just north of the Scarborough and Jupiter gas fields in the Exmouth Plateau, offshore northwest Australia.
But elsewhere in the Carnarvon Basin, operator Santos has plugged and abandoned two oil exploration wells in its WA-191-P permit.
Neither Totem-1 nor Fletcher-1 found hydrocarbons suitable for production at this stage.
Other partners in the permit include Kufpec, Tap Oil and Nippon Oil Exploration.
AED grabs second FPSO, flags first oil from Puffin
Timor Sea developer AED Oil has entered into an agreement with Modec Inc for the provision of a floating processing, storage and offtake vessel.
The Modec Venture 1 will be the second FPSO working AED's Puffin fields.
"This key agreement, together with planned drilling and development, will enable production from the Puffin South West region in the first half of 2008," AED said.
"The simulated initial production rate for the Puffin SW region is in excess of 25,000 barrels of oil per day.”
Meanwhile, the Front Puffin FPSO, which will receive the production from the Puffin NE region, is due to arrive at the Puffin field in September when production will begin.
More gas in Bass Strait
The Exxon Mobil-BHP Billiton joint venture found 300 billion cubic feet of gas in Gippsland basin waters last year, adding to the additional 700 billion cubic feet reserve announced at the end of 2005.
ExxonMobil Australia chairman Mark Nolan said having extended the lives of the company’s Bass Strait oil and gas fields to more than 20 years and 30 years respectively, the major was launching a study into the untested gas potential of deeper geological structures underneath existing discoveries.
Anzon brings in farminee, fields takeover offers
Anzon Australia saw its share price surge last week after the company told the ASX it had received more than one takeover offer.
Unlike most listed companies, the company has had a good month on the ASX, benefiting from its strong production profile in a risk-averse period.
It also benefited from a farm-in to the Basker Manta Gummy project by Japanese major Itochu, which took a 20% stake - 10% from Anzon and 10% from Beach.
Woodside out of Africa, but Roc on a roll
Woodside Petroleum announced last week it planned to abandon its African acreage to concentrate on LNG.
Woodside has been frustrated in Kenya after offshore wells sunk early in the year turned out to be dry. Success in Libya has also been modest, and the company's Mauritanian fields have problematic geology.
But Roc Oil has had a good win at its Cabinda block in Angola. The oil in the company’s 60%-held Massambala field may be heavy, but the reservoir is shallow and big.
Chinese banquet for Arrow
Arrow Energy entered four Chinese coal seam methane and coal mine methane gas projects in early August, marking the final stage in its initial Chinese project acquisition strategy.
Arrow has seven projects in three different Chinese regions, which will be technically and commercially evaluated before going ahead with exploration and development drilling.
Arrow has also formed an alliance with Indian energy giant GAIL and has won three exploration blocks in that country.
