North West Shelf Venture

Alcoa of Australia has signalled its long-term commitment to Western Australia, signing a new gas supply agreement with Santos at the same time as a review revealed the global aluminium giant is considering big job cuts.

Australian employees of oil and gas service provider Wood Group PSN can expect a salary freeze while contractors will experience rate reductions, a move the company said was in response to cost and efficiency challenges affecting the sector.

The state government will receive a budget bonus of more than $300 million thanks to the fall of the Australian dollar, while farmers and exporters will also benefit from increased international competitiveness.

SPECIAL REPORT: As the energy construction boom winds down, policy makers must get the settings right to prepare for future investment, while energy players mull the best way to allocate scarce capital.

SPECIAL REPORT: The domgas market is going through a period of structural change, but history has lessons for those businesses that know where to look.

SPECIAL REPORT: Earnings for the state from the powerhouse minerals and energy industries have softened, but agriculture, among other sectors, will create opportunities. Business News also takes an in depth look at Bunbury port, where a big expansion plan needs community backing and solid regional demand growth.

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.

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.

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

Today at AOG: US petroleum company Hess is pursuing development of its Equus gas field off the Pilbara coast, with senior manager Andrew Drayton telling the Australasian Oil & Gas conference today it would proceed with a variety of tendering opportunities this year, including for subsea work.

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull will join a range of international energy leaders in Perth to open the LNG 18 global conference in mid-April.

SPECIAL REPORT: Western Australia’s next major greenfields liquefied natural gas project could be a decade away after Woodside last month decided against further progressing its Browse floating LNG facility.

March quarter revenue was down by nearly a third on the same period last year, Woodside Petroleum revealed today, although it flagged that it was continuing work with Hess on gas processing from the Equus field.

Woodside Petroleum has received a first strike against its remuneration report, with about 27.6 per cent of shareholders voting against it, while chairman Michael Chaney has flagged he may not step down at the next AGM as previously suggested.

Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline owner-operator DBP says pricing for the gas transmission line set by the Economic Regulation Authority today won’t be enough to earn a rate of return suitable for prevailing market conditions.

Australia’s enormous LNG investment boom is starting to pay trade dividends, with exports up 18.5 per cent in the month of June to 3.6 million tonnes, largely to Japan and South Korea.

A short term domestic gas contract between Woodside Petroleum and electricity generator Synergy is the first such deal since the North West Shelf Venture partners moved towards separate marketing of their production.

Western Australian gas producers shipped 2.2 million tonnes of LNG in September as quarterly exports were up 45 per cent nationally on last year, according to consultancy EnergyQuest.

Iron ore producers have maintained their dominance over the BNiQ Search Engine Biggest Exporters list, as LNG producers are slow to start up. Click through to see the annual list of the state's biggest exporting companies.

National LNG exports were up 38 per cent in 2016, but Western Australian facilities did not contribute to the increase despite first gas being produced at Chevron’s Gorgon project, according to the latest research from EnergyQuest.

A currency depreciation and weak market conditions for resources companies have driven net profit after tax down by 42.9 per cent at Henderson-based contractor Civmec.

Some of the North West Shelf Venture partners might either sell their stake in the operation or take an equity interest in potential projects such as Browse as one potential solution to find backfill liquids for Karratha gas plant in the next decade, according to a report by Wood Mackenzie.