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176487
Tue, 04/19/2011 - 14:22
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http://m.oananews.org//node/176487
The shortlink copeid
Woodside battles to meet Pluto start-up
Woodside Petroleum Ltd is battling to meet the revised start-up date for its Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Western Australia after cyclone-related weather delays that crimped its March quarter production.
Woodside on Tuesday said the key driver of a 12 per cent fall in total production for the three months to March 31 to 15.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) was higher than normal tropical cyclone activity in the North West.
Other drivers of the lower production were a planned maintenance outage at its Vincent oil field on the North West Shelf and a floating production, storage and offtake vessel changeover.
Woodside said it was trying to recover four weeks of weather-related delays to construction at Pluto so it could meet the August start-up date, with LNG to follow a month later.
"Mitigation plans are in place but it may be hard to recover weather-related delays at this late stage in the project," the oil and gas producer said.
"The end of the cyclone season is approaching and will result in a better work environment."
Shares in Woodside fell 72 cents, or 1.54 per cent, to close at $46.05, the lowest in three weeks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 1.41 per cent.
Woodside in November said the cost of developing Pluto had blown out by $900 million to $14 billion due to the need to replace flare towers for safety and other reasons.
At the time, it also pushed back the start-up date from February to August this year.
The company also on Tuesday said talks were continuing with other energy producers about possibly processing their Carnarvon Basin gas through additional processing "trains" planned by Woodside at Pluto.
Woodside said it planned to order long lead time items in the middle of 2011 to achieve the earliest start-up of an expansion train.
It maintained its underlying production forecast for calendar 2011 of 63 to 66 mmboe, excluding an additional five to nine mmboe from Pluto.
Woodside's March quarter oil and gas sales totalled 15.3 mmboe, down 14 per cent on the previous quarter.
With sales volumes down, revenue fell six per cent to $US998 million ($A953.02 million) compared to the December quarter, but was offset partly by higher prices.
Woodside also said it had decided to retain its Laminaria-Corallina oil assets in the Timor Sea, because of current high oil prices and after testing the market for a potential buyer.
Woodside on Tuesday said the key driver of a 12 per cent fall in total production for the three months to March 31 to 15.6 million barrels of oil equivalent (mmboe) was higher than normal tropical cyclone activity in the North West.
Other drivers of the lower production were a planned maintenance outage at its Vincent oil field on the North West Shelf and a floating production, storage and offtake vessel changeover.
Woodside said it was trying to recover four weeks of weather-related delays to construction at Pluto so it could meet the August start-up date, with LNG to follow a month later.
"Mitigation plans are in place but it may be hard to recover weather-related delays at this late stage in the project," the oil and gas producer said.
"The end of the cyclone season is approaching and will result in a better work environment."
Shares in Woodside fell 72 cents, or 1.54 per cent, to close at $46.05, the lowest in three weeks. The benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index declined 1.41 per cent.
Woodside in November said the cost of developing Pluto had blown out by $900 million to $14 billion due to the need to replace flare towers for safety and other reasons.
At the time, it also pushed back the start-up date from February to August this year.
The company also on Tuesday said talks were continuing with other energy producers about possibly processing their Carnarvon Basin gas through additional processing "trains" planned by Woodside at Pluto.
Woodside said it planned to order long lead time items in the middle of 2011 to achieve the earliest start-up of an expansion train.
It maintained its underlying production forecast for calendar 2011 of 63 to 66 mmboe, excluding an additional five to nine mmboe from Pluto.
Woodside's March quarter oil and gas sales totalled 15.3 mmboe, down 14 per cent on the previous quarter.
With sales volumes down, revenue fell six per cent to $US998 million ($A953.02 million) compared to the December quarter, but was offset partly by higher prices.
Woodside also said it had decided to retain its Laminaria-Corallina oil assets in the Timor Sea, because of current high oil prices and after testing the market for a potential buyer.
