Energy

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.

Energy analytics firm Greensense is set to be acquired by Brisbane-based energy provider ERM Power in an all-cash deal worth $5.25 million.

Tap Oil has flagged a range of cost-cutting strategies while announcing a $6.75 million capital raising to pay back debt, after final terms of a refinancing deal with Macquarie Bank fell through.

The consumer watchdog has found retail margins in the petrol industry are at their highest level since monitoring began 13 years ago.

Eden Energy, which is seeking to commericalise its innovative concrete product, is looking to wipe out its debt by completing a $6.1 million capital raising, with its major shareholder committing to over a third of the offer.

Engineering contractors Monadelphous Group and Wood Group have secured new contracts with Woodside Petroleum and ConocoPhillips to service existing oil & gas facilities.

Woodside Petroleum has formally abandoned its attempted takeover of rival energy company Oil Search by withdrawing its $11.6 billion bid.

SPECIAL REPORT: The 2015 CEO salary survey has some surprising names near the top of the list while some of the state’s best chief executives are unexpectedly low down.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is understood to be investigating Synergy following predatory pricing complaints from several players in the state’s electricity market.

Programmed Maintenance Services is among five companies to be added to the S&P/ASX200 in changes to the market indices set to occur after market close on December 18.

Analyst firm EnergyQuest has predicted lower liquefied natural gas prices will not lead to Australian operations switching off or cutting back production, in its latest quarterly review of the industry.

Santos will tap investors for around $585 million to meet a shortfall in its $2.5 billion rights entitlement offer.

Synergy chairman Lyndon Rowe has mapped out a detailed agenda for energy market reform, saying there would be catastrophic consequences if the government did not tackle market players with vested interests.

The latest official report into Western Australia’s gas supply and demand outlook has raised the ire of a group of major domestic gas users, which says some of its key findings are misleading and called for an independent review into how the report is compiled.

Three workers have been killed in two separate incidents across Perth today, including two men crushed by a concrete slab at a construction worksite in East Perth.

Chinese investors appear increasingly bullish about opportunities in Western Australia’s energy sector, following revelations a division of China’s biggest offshore oil and gas producer, CNOOC, was a significant influence in one of the state’s biggest battery storage trials.