Hess Sells 2 Tcf Australia Project to Newcomer
Newly formed Australian company Western Gas has acquired 100% of the “development ready” Equus Gas Project from Hess Corporation, the company said November 14.
“The Equus Gas Project is development-ready with exploration and appraisal already completed, engineering activities at an advanced stage and, with a resource of more than 2 trillion ft3, enough gas to supply one quarter of Western Australian domestic gas demand for more than 20 years,” Western Gas executive director Andrew Leibovitch said.
Leibovitch was previously general manager at Woodside and heads up a leadership team in the new company staked with other former Woodside staff, BHP and Arrow, amongst others.
“Equus provides a great opportunity for the timely development of Western Australia’s discovered gas reserves to meet the needs of local gas customers, particularly when the eastern states of Australia are experiencing a major energy crisis and exploration is in decline,” Leibovitch added.
The company acquired four permits and a retention lease from Hess Corporation, comprising 11 gas and condensate fields with an independently certified resource of more than 2 trillion ft3 gas and 42 million barrels of condensate, the company said.
The project is located in the North West Shelf, and Western Gas says it is surrounded by world-class infrastructure, production facilities and pipelines, providing access to Western Australia’s gas market.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Hess reported January 25 its 4Q2016 results included an after-tax impairment charge of $693mn on Equus, offshore Australia’s North West Shelf
Nathan Richardson