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Sparty
03-21-2009, 01:30 PM
Australian Coal-Seam Gas Output Rose 39% Last Year, Group Says

By Angela Macdonald-Smith
March 20 (Bloomberg) --

Australian production of coal-seam gas surged 39 percent last year to a record and now represents more than 13 percent of gas supply in the country, the nation’s oil and gas industry group said.
Output of gas extracted from coal seams rose to 142.9 billion cubic feet in the year ended Dec. 31, up from 102.7 billion in 2007, the Canberra-based Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (http://www.appea.com.au/) said today in an e-mailed statement. That’s up from 1.4 billion cubic feet in 1998.
Origin Energy Ltd. (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=ORG%3AAU), Santos Ltd. and Arrow Energy Ltd. were among Australian coal-seam gas producers that boosted output last year to meet rising demand from power generators. BG Group Plc, Malaysia’s Petroliam Nasional Bhd (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=PET%3AMK). and ConocoPhillips all bought stakes in coal-seam gas ventures in Queensland last year, with the aim of using the fuel for export ventures.
“The growth of coal-seam gas has been dramatic over the period,” the association said in the statement.
Australia’s reserves of coal-seam gas have more than doubled in the past 12 months to 17,451 petajoules, or 16.5 trillion cubic feet, Adelaide-based consultant EnergyQuest (http://www.energyquest.com.au/) said last week in a separate report.
“There has been massive growth in coal-seam gas proven and probable reserves in recent years, while reserves of conventional gas in eastern Australia have declined,” EnergyQuest said. BG is the biggest holder of coal-seam gas reserves in Australia, followed by Origin Energy, ConocoPhillips (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/quote?ticker=COP%3AUS) and Santos, it said.
North West Shelf
Production of conventional gas for sale into the Australian market rose 3.4 percent last year to 917 billion cubic feet, while liquefied natural gas output advanced 3.7 percent to 15.7 million metric tons after the Woodside Petroleum Ltd.-operated North West Shelf venture (http://www.woodside.com.au/Regions/Australia+and+Asia/Producing+assets/North+West+Shelf/) expanded capacity. LNG output has more than doubled in the past decade, the group said.
Output of crude oil and condensates, a type of oil produced together with natural gas, slid 2 percent to 168.4 million barrels last year, 15 percent lower than 10 years earlier, according to the group. The nation produced 54 percent of its demand for oil and condensates last year, down from 98 percent in 2000.
Australia’s oil and gas trade deficit eased to A$11.8 billion ($8.1 billion) last year as the value of both imports and exports fell, EnergyQuest said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith (http://search.bloomberg.com/search?q=Angela+Macdonald-Smith&site=wnews&client=wnews&proxystylesheet=wnews&output=xml_no_dtd&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&filter=p&getfields=wnnis&sort=date:D:S:d1) in Sydney at [email protected]
Last Updated: March 19, 2009 19:12 EDT

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