Page 14 - GLNG Week 30

GLNG AUSTRAL ASIA GLNG

Comet mulls MGP stake sale

PROJECTS & AUSTRALIAN independent Comet Ridge has It said it had opened talks with potential part-
COMPANIES said it may sell off some of its 40% stake in the ners in Mahalo North’s development, noting that
Mahalo Gas Project (MGP) in Queensland. the project would capitalise on projected supply
The company said on July 30 that a par- shortfalls on the East Coast gas market. The
tial divestment would not only help it to meet Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)
its equity funding obligations, but would also has warned that domestic gas supply shortages
pave the way for it to focus on its wholly owned could emerge in Victoria by 2023, with other
Mahalo North block. neighbouring states to experience a similar
MGP is located inside the northern part of crunch soon after.
authority to prospect (ATP) 1191 and consists Comet said negotiations had covered gas pre-
of petroleum leases (PLs) 1082 (Humboldt) and sales as well as farm-in opportunities and could
1083 (Mahalo). The Queensland government even involve the sale of some of its stake in MGP.
awarded the two 30-year leases to project part- Mahalo North lies directly north of MGP in
ners Comet, Santos and Australia Pacific LNG ATP 2048 and Comet said earlier this month that
(APLNG) earlier this month. APLNG has a 30% it was conducting seismic interpretation in order
stake in MGP, while major shareholders Ori- to optimise drilling locations. The independent
gin Energy serves as operator. Santos owns the has said Mahalo North could be tied into either
remaining 30%, MGP or other nearby gas processing and pipe-
While the partners want to produce 60 TJ line facilities.
(1.56mn cubic metres) per day of gas from MGP, The company expects East Coast gas prices
Comet noted that the venture still had not set a to rebound in financial year 2022-2023, after
timeline for either a final investment decision having fallen to multi-year lows on the back of
(FID) or first gas. weaker global gas demand and oversupply on
Comet warned that it would struggle to the international market. Comet cited natural
raise funding for an initial drilling campaign declines at major producing assets in the coun-
at Mahalo North, given the current market try’s east as well as the current wave of upstream
downturn. budget cuts.™

EUROPE

Russian government to

auction off Arctic gas fields

INVESTMENT RUSSIA’S natural resources ministry is willing to Peninsula. The company has no active projects in
auction off two of the three gas fields in northern the region, although it did undertake an unsuc-
Krasnoyarsk that Rosneft has asked to bid for, cessful exploration campaign in the eastern part
Kommersant reported on July 28 citing sources. of the peninsula several years ago.
However, Rosneft will come up against competi- Rosneft requested auction terms that would
tion for the licences from private oil firm Lukoil. prevent companies that do not have production
Rosneft is looking to add gas resources to its assets from participating, and that stipulate that
Vostok Oil megaproject, with a view to launch- the fields’ gas should be exported via tankers in
ing LNG production in the Russian Arctic. The the form of LNG. This would make Rosneft the
three fields in question – Ushakovskoye, Deryab- only eligible candidate.
inskoye and Kazantsevskoye – hold 128bn cubic The Vostok Oil project consists of a cluster
metres in reserves, according to state estimates. of oilfields that Rosneft claims could eventually
Rosneft CEO Igor Sechin asked Russian flow 2.3mn barrels per day (bpd) of oil. The com-
Prime Minister Mikhail Mishustin for a con- pany has just reported the discovery of an addi-
test for the fields to be held, RBC reported last tional 146mn barrels of oil at the site.
month. However, mining giant Norilsk Nickel Vostok Oil is a joint venture between Rosneft
later requested that the government set aside one and Neftegazholding, a private firm that has his-
of the fields, Ushakovskoye, to meet the future toric ties with the state producer.
gas supply needs of its facilities in the area. There are concerns that, even with the
In light of this, the resource ministry resources of the three Krasnoyarsk fields, Ros-
has decided to auction off rights to Deryab- neft will not have enough gas to support LNG
inskoye and Kazantsevskoye only, Kommer- production. Rosneft has tried before to advance
sant reported. Lukoil has also shown interest LNG export projects in northern Russia and in
in the assets, situated in the west of the Taymyr the Far East, without success.™

P14 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 30 31•July•2020