Natural Gas Daily: August 13th, 2020

Oz Woodside Reports $4bn H1 Loss

Woodside announced a net loss of $4.07bn (A$5.67bn) in the six months to June 30 (H1), principally due to the $3.92bn impairment losses and onerous contract provision announced last month. The company had reported a net profit of $419mn in H1 of last year.

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• In response to the pandemic and lower oil and gas prices, Woodside has cut planned total expenditure in 2020 by 50% and has delayed final investment decisions (FIDs) on our Scarborough, Pluto Train 2 and Browse developments,” CEO Peter Coleman said.

Shell Completes Seismic from UK Pensacola

Anglo-Dutch major Shell has delivered the processed 3D seismic data over the Pensacola Zechstein Reef prospect, partner and discoverer Deltic Energy said. Following a farm-in, Shell is the operator of Licence 2252 in the UK southern gas basin.

• Last month, Deltic Energy’s COO Andrew Nunn talked to NGW about the UK CS and the growing importance of gas for what was formerly Cluff Natural Resources.

• It has been a busy time for Deltic: as well as receiving very encouraging seismic analysis for another southern basin gas prospect, Selene, it has also seen off a take-over bid from Reabold Resources.

Indian Gail's Q1 Profit Drops 80%

Gail, India’s largest gas marketing and transportation company, announced an 80% yr/yr drop in net profit for the three months to June 30 (Q1) thanks to losses in gas marketing and petrochemicals businesses.

• India’s natural gas consumption during June was 5.14bn m³, up 5.5% yr/yr, according to NGW calculation using the data published by the Indian oil and gas ministry's PPAC.

• India’s LNG imports last month were 2.67bn m³ (1.9mn metric tons), down 6.9% compared with the corresponding month of the previous year, according to the data published by the Indian oil and gas ministry's PPAC.
  

Q2 Loss Widens for Canadian Birchcliff Energy

Canadian independent producer Birchcliff Energy said August 12 it had a C$39.5mn (US$29.9mn) net loss in Q2 2020, up from a C$9.5mn loss in the same period a year ago but a modest improvement from the C$45.2mn loss reported in Q1 2020.

• In anticipation of higher natural gas prices through the rest of this year and into 2021, Birchcliff said it has left all of its natural gas production unhedged.

Vintage Energy Starts Flow Testing of Queensland Well

Sydney-listed Vintage Energy announced it has started flow testing of the Vali-1 ST1 well in Queensland.

• The Vali discovery in Queensland was announced in January this year.

Oz AGL's Full Year Underlying Profit Down 22%

Australian energy retailer AGL Energy reported a 22% yr/yr drop in underlying net profit for the 12 months to June 30 (FY2020), primarily due to the outage of unit 2 at AGL Loy Yang power station and reduced gas volumes.

• AGL operates Australia’s largest electricity portfolio including coal and gas-fired generation, and renewables including wind, hydro and solar.