Energy

One of Perth’s leading solar power and lithium battery storage providers has struck a strategic alliance with a New Zealand power provider expected to be worth $40 million over the next five years.

The Chamber of Commerce and Industry of WA’s Energy Apprenticeships Group has kicked off with 16 process operator apprentices to begin their four-year training today.

Woodside Petroleum says its recently flagged write-downs of up to $US1.2 billion ($A1.7 billion) had taken into account possible delays at the Wheatstone LNG project near Onslow.

Perth-based Decmil Group has won a contract to provide temporary accommodation for ConocoPhillips workers at the Australia Pacific LNG facility on Curtis Island for an undisclosed sum.

Carnarvon Petroleum has acquired a 35 per cent stake in Quadrant Energy’s Barrow sub-basin oil project, and has committed $10 million towards a drilling program scheduled for June.

Shares in oil and gas company AWE have rallied on news it has sold its stake in the Sugarloaf project in the US for $US190 million ($A271 million).

Engineering group Clough has won a contract for work on Inpex’s Ichthys LNG project in the Browse Basin, with the value undisclosed.

Despite falling oil prices, projections are showing that local consumers and industry could be paying much more for gas in 10 years’ time.

Perth company Subsea Engineering Associates has won a contract to provide its services to the Baltic gas project in the Polish section of the Baltic Sea.

Economist and climate change adviser Ross Garnaut has called on the Barnett government to write down the value of coal-fired power stations and other ageing assets, warning that keeping them online threatened its ability to reduce power prices.

Beach Energy and Santos are the latest Australian oil and gas companies to flag big write-downs, with Beach announcing late today it would cut capital spending and make impairment charges of up to $650 million.

Woodside Petroleum expects to take a hit of up to $US1.2 billion ($A1.7 billion) as it writes down the value of its energy assets following the slump in oil prices.

Lower exploration and construction activity in the energy sector has led Canada-based contractor Enerflex to exit the Australian engineering, procurement and construction market, with most of its Perth operations to be made redundant, Business News understands.

Engineering firm Wood Group has continued its run of contract wins in the offshore oil and gas sector, with the latest contract being for Shell’s Prelude floating LNG project.

Western Australia's only onshore oil producer has suspended production after being hit by the low oil price and the high cost of trucking its output to Wyndham rather than the much closer port at Broome.

The state government will lay underground power lines in areas of the South West after the Yarloop bushfire racked up a $26 million damage bill to the region’s electricity network.

The operator of Australia's largest gas project, Gorgon, plans to supply more liquefied natural gas to China over a decade in the face of softening global demand.

Mining services firm Tempo Australia has won contract extensions with unnamed existing clients for construction, pre-commissioning and commissioning support services work, worth a combined $65 million for the year.

Chevron Australia has moved another step closer to completion of the Gorgon gas project, with a commissioning LNG cargo arriving at Barrow Island to cool down the storage and loading facilities prior to commencement of exports.

Mining giant BHP Billiton will write down the value of its onshore US oil and gas assets by more than 30 per cent as it factors in the slump in crude oil prices.

Engineering and construction group Valmec has secured a $4.3 million contract for work at Vector Gas’s compression project in Auckland.

Western Australia’s biggest and most productive gas production facility suffered an equipment failure early this morning.

If Woodside Petroleum is ever looking for a corporate slogan it could borrow a saying from the Dutch philosopher Erasmus: “in the land of the blind the one-eyed man is king”.

Citation Resources’ 40 per cent-owned subsidiary Pearl Global has struck a heads of agreement with a Singaporean renewable energy company to fund the development of up to 50 tyre recycling plants across Asia.

Australia's struggling oil and gas producers are expected to put more assets on the market this year as oil prices hit fresh 12-year lows.

Engineering and construction contractor Decmil Group has won another extension to its contract for work at QGC’s Queensland Curtis Liquefied Natural Gas project in Gladstone, worth about $35 million.

SPECIAL REPORT: Up to 5,000 delegates from more than 60 countries will descend on Perth in a few months for the 18th International Conference and Exhibition on Liquefied Natural Gas.

Oil and gas producer Origin Energy has shipped the first cargo from its Australia Pacific liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility at Curtis Island in North Queensland.

Energy technology company Enerji has landed its first commercial contract and deployment into the Australian market with the finalisation of a power purchasing agreement with Northern Star Resources.

AWE and Origin Energy plan to spend $17.5 million on the first stage of their Waitsia onshore gas project in the Perth Basin after an offtake agreement was finalised with Alinta Energy.

Oil and gas company Buru Energy has flagged job cuts and the sale of acreage in the Canning Basin to save costs, as a drilling contractor employed at Buru’s Ungani project falls into administration.

Singapore-listed contractor AusGroup has announced a number of contract wins and extensions worth a combined $100 million, including with Woodside Petroleum, which today flagged lower capex and increased production for the year.