Timor Sea oil project to proceed: Woodside<\/p>\n
PERTH (Dow Jones): Woodside Petroleum Ltd., an Australian oil
\nand gas producer, Wednesday said the unstable political situation
\nin East Timor will not affect the proposed startup of its A$1.37
\nbillion Laminaria oil development in the Timor Sea.<\/p>\n
Laminaria's production vessel, the Northern Endeavour, will
\nleave its Singapore berth in the \"next couple of days\" to begin a
\ntwo week journey to the field, Woodside Managing Director John
\nAkehurst told Dow Jones Newswires.<\/p>\n
\"We will be taking it directly to the field and it will be
\nmobilized for the start-up process. So at this stage there are no
\nrecognized impediments to that happening,\" he said.<\/p>\n
The Northern Endeavour will be operating in Australian waters
\nnear the boundary of the so-called Zone of Cooperation between
\nIndonesia and Australia in the Timor Sea.<\/p>\n
The field is roughly 250 kilometers from Kupang in West Timor
\nand 550km from Darwin in Australia.<\/p>\n
Woodside hopes to have Laminaria in production by the end of
\nOctober or the beginning of November, and production is expected
\nto rise to around 140,000 barrels a day next year.<\/p>\n
Woodside owns 50 percent of the project, with the remainder
\nheld 25 percent each by Broken Hill Proprietary Co. (BHP) and
\nRoyal Dutch Shell Group (RD).<\/p>\n
Akehurst said Woodside is seeking to match its 1998 net profit
\nof A$300 million, but whether it reaches that target will depend
\non how smoothly Laminaria comes into production.<\/p>\n
\"We set ($300 million) as a target and it would be a good
\noutcome for us, having had no oil production in the first half of
\nthe year. But the critical aspect will be the start-up
\nperformance of Laminaria,\" Akehurst said.<\/p>\n
Profit for the first six months of 1998 was down 11.9% to
\nA$123.8 million from A$140.6 million a year before, after crude
\noil production was temporarily shut down for maintenance.<\/p>\n
Akehurst said it is unlikely Japanese power utilities will
\nsign up this year for expanded liquefied natural gas production
\nfrom the Woodside-operated North West Shelf project, despite
\nrecent progress in the long-running sales negotiations.<\/p>\n
\"We do seem to have engaged in a much more detailed and
\nspecific dialogue with our Japanese customers, and they are now
\nat a point where the gas utilities are keen to commit to
\nadditional supplies in 2004,\" Akehurst said.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/timor-sea-oil-project-to-proceed-woodside-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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