US LNG: a snapshot of where things stand in 2018

US shale has been a game changer for the gas markets. Often overshadowed by oil story, US gas production is the unloved sibling of oil – oversupplied, low prices, unprofitable and sometimes an unwanted by-product of oil production in the form of associated gas. However 2017 came to demonstrate the vast potential for US gas and a complete change in direction with the country becoming a net exporter of gas for the first time. This started with...

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Forties Pipeline System reopens in time for the New Year

On 11th December, INEOS the owner of the Forties Pipeline System, had discovered a hairline crack in the pipeline at Red Moss near Netherley. The crack continued to grow upon monitoring and the entire system was subsequently shutdown. INEOS announced this morning that the repairs are "mechanically" complete with the system being restarted - export rates should resume to previous levels around the new year. The system carries c.450mbbl/d of production from the North Sea to the Kinneil processing facility in Scotland. The 235 mile pipeline links...

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Amerisur putting plans in motion

Amerisur is a story of slow and steady wins the race. The company had targeted 10mbbl/d to be reached a few years ago - with current production only at c.7mbbl/d, this target has clearly fallen by the wayside. Amerisur has learnt, and is continuing to learn, that doing business in Colombia (and Ecuador) is not straightforward and getting necessary government approvals can take months and sometimes years rather than weeks - the OBA pipeline...

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Premier's Christmas present

Premier Oil announced today that the Catcher field achieved first oil on 23rd December, on schedule and almost 30% below budget. Initial production will be c.10mbopd as gas processing and water injection modules are commissioned. Production will be ramped up in phases through H1 2018 as the Varadero and Burgman fields are brought onstream increasing production to 60,000mboepd (gross). The Catcher partners are Premier Oil (50% operator), Cairn...

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Kosmos: An unfinished West African story

Kosmos has had a busy 2017 chasing a high risk high reward oil play and working up its Senegal/Mauritania gas resources. In the second half of the year Hippocampe and Lamantin both came in dry ending the company's campaign for higher value oil. It can now focus on developing the c.40tcf of gas found at Tortue, Teranga, Yakaar and BirAllah. It has hopefully found the right partner in BP who farmed-in in late 2016. Although not generally seen...

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AWE: an unexpected union

The AWE Board has unanimously recommended a revised bid by Mineral Resources (“MinRes”). The offer terms are A$0.415 in cash and between 0.0198 and 0.0277 MinRes shares per AWE share. The exchange ratio will depend on the VWAP for the 10 days prior to the scheme vote. The previous offer was a full scrip offer at A$0.81. This values the offer at an implied price of c.A$0.83 per AWE share and will be implemented by a Scheme of Arrangement, which...

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Zohr record breaker

In record time for a deepwater gas development of this scale, Eni has announced first production from Zohr. The field was discovered in August 2015 and FID taken in early 2016 - Eni achieved first gas from discovery in 2.5 years. Zohr is the largest gas discovery ever made offshore Egypt and is located in the Shorouk block. The field has begun production at 350mmcfpd and is expected to grow to 1bcfpd by mid-2018. The speed of development is a...

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