Anadarko Posts Smaller Loss in 3Q, Advances Mozambique LNG Project
Anadarko Petroleum said November 1 it posted a net loss of $699mn in 3Q 2017, a modest improvement over the $830mn loss in the comparable quarter last year, and made progress on its 12mn tonnes/year Mozambique LNG project with the signing of the project’s first sales and purchase agreement (SPA).
Subsequent to the end of the quarter, however, it continued to shed North American natural gas assets, reaching an agreement to sell its Moxa properties in Wyoming – which produced 72mn ft³/day in the third quarter – for $350mn. In the 12 months between 3Q 2016 and 3Q 2017, the company divested itself of 892mn ft³/day of natural gas production, not including the Moxa assets, cutting 3Q gas production this year to 980mn ft³/day from 1.93bn ft³/day a year ago.
“We have made significant progress in shifting our production mix toward higher-value oil, which has improved our margins per barrel by about 34% year-over-year,” Anadarko CEO Al Walker said. “We expect to improve our margins further as we finalize the sale of our Moxa gas asset, continue focusing investments in our high-quality oil plays, and drive greater efficiencies into the system.”
In Mozambique, Anadarko and its partners in the Golfinho/Atum offshore discovery reached agreement on the LNG project’s first long-term SPA, for 2.6mn tonnes/year, with PTT, Thailand’s national oil company. The SPA has been approved by PTT’s board of directors and is awaiting Thai government approval.
It also completed the legal and contractual framework for the LNG project, Mozambique’s first onshore. Marine consents for the onshore project were finalised in July. Now only a few formal government approvals remain before commencement of resettlement and site preparation activities, which will position the onshore area for construction to start.
Anadarko says it wants to reach SPAs covering 8mn tonnes/year and firm up project financing before taking FID on the project. First cargoes, however, are not anticipated until at least the middle of the 2020s.
Dale Lunan