Roundtable Discussion; The Future of Mineral Sands. Watch the video here.
Agree that was a good find Darnit. I emailed the SPE Young Professional's group and asked for a link or copy of any video. I will let you know if I receive anything. In the meantime, if any of you folks are members of the SPE, maybe you might have luck getting a copy of the video or presentation materials. Thanks.
New grants to unlock Beetaloo Basin potential
18 March 2021
Joint media release with Northern Territory Senator Dr Sam McMahon
Australia’s gas-fired recovery has taken another step forward with the launch of new grants to support further exploration of the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.
Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt said $50 million in grants will be provided through the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program.
“The program is expected to deliver approximately 10 additional exploration wells in the Beetaloo by 2022, and bring forward at least $150 million of private investment from companies.
“This Commonwealth grants program will support gas operators to speed up exploration and development of the Beetaloo Basin,” Minister Pitt said.
“These grants are a key component of our Government’s agenda to bring gas from this world class resource into the market by at least 2025.
“The Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program is part of the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan and the Government’s $224 million commitment to the Beetaloo,” Minister Pitt said.
Senator for the Northern Territory, Dr Sam McMahon, says it will be a major local economic driver.
“The Plan is expected to generate significant development in the Top End, creating up to 6,000 jobs over the next 20 years and helping Australia remain a world leader in gas,” Senator McMahon said.
“This investment by the Morrison-McCormack Government will provide new opportunities for thousands of Territorians and ensure the NT can emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic in a strong position.”
The Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program will provide grants of between $750,000 and $7.5 million, up to a total of $50 million, to gas companies to support exploration that occurs before 30 December 2022.
For more information on the Plan, visit the Unlocking the Beetaloo: The Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan report on the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources website.
Media contacts:
Minister Pitt's office 02 6277 7180
Senator McMahon's office 02 6277 3643
Thanks Newt. Given that vast number of coal plants that could be replaced with natural gas powered plants in Indiana and China, the Karoo presents a unique economic development opportunity with LNG for a country that sorely needs it. Let's hope their government can finally get it together and allow the exploration to move forward.
Does anyone have access to this article?
https://www.upstreamonline.com/exploration/shale-gas-can-be-a-potential-game-changer-for-south-africa-karoo-basin-well-offers-insight/2-1-976270
'Shale gas can be a potential game changer for South Africa': Karoo basin well offers insight
Results from deep research well will underpin controversial government plans to open up possible 205 trillion cubic foot shale gas play
Okay. And just one more question, if I may. This is on the Beetaloo. Just after some more color on your plans this year for drilling in the Beetaloo. So the flow rate that was announced of 400,000 to 600,000 standard cubic feet, it sounds akin to a decent coal seam gas well, but well below what you'd hoped for a shale well. And I guess similarly, the gas composition indicating 2.7% condensate sounds a little softer than you're hoping for. So how does that data influence your plans this year? -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Unidentified Company Representative, [5] -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Well, I mean what it does is that it encourages us that we actually quite like. We like to think the composition is really strong, actually, would be my first point. I mean check out the ethane number there. So it's quite -- it's quite ethane rich. Lots of LPG, if you multiply by the flow rate, total flow rate you'd be expecting from a field development, that it swamp any other LPG production volume in Australia. And then what I'd say is it informs our way forward just because we need to go back in now. Once we get back into the dry season, we'll go there with some different, I guess, equipment. And we'll flow test the well properly for about 60 days after we do a solid clean up activity. I mean the point is that the well was very much still in the cleanup phase. It was cycling. It was flowing unassisted and then loading up. And we need to get out of that phase unloaded and then let it flow properly unassisted for a period of time.
So we've got the well paid already to go. We've got the approvals. That's the Velkerri one on the flank. The plan would be, at this stage, to drill a vertical well there, and just confirm what we think is there is actually there. But we'll probably come out with that a bit later in the year exactly what the plans are for that -- for the Beetaloo development.
Here are the helpful quotes on the Beetaloo from the earnings transcript:
I'll touch further on the Beetaloo opportunity in the next slide, particularly as the progress regarding the Kyalla well. And you can see there that we have met our objective of getting goal of our liquids to rich gas opportunity through those Kyalla shales. The initial announcement, which is based on early data, is lodged -- we have to lodge that in accordance with the northern territory regulations. The initial results are encouraging, but we've got further work to do on that. But you can see there that one of the key things that we had to work through was just that we were confirming really that there are unassisted gas flow rates and it's liquids rich. And you can see the composition there through the various methane, ethane and the higher C categories there. But what we've also been contending with is a very large amount of water production that you can see as a ratio of 1,000 barrels to million scf. So that's what really we were working through. We will continue that cleanup phase, and we expect to commence the production test as we hit the dry season into the quarter 4. And then following extended production testing, we shift to the commerciality through well optimization and also high-grading those areas, identification of them. So there's work to be done there, good initial signs, more work to be done. And the next thing that you should be looking forward for us is really that extended production test, and we'll keep you informed.
I'll touch further on the Beetaloo opportunity in the next slide, particularly as the progress regarding the Kyalla well. And you can see there that we have met our objective of getting goal of our liquids to rich gas opportunity through those Kyalla shales. The initial announcement, which is based on early data, is lodged -- we have to lodge that in accordance with the northern territory regulations. The initial results are encouraging, but we've got further work to do on that. But you can see there that one of the key things that we had to work through was just that we were confirming really that there are unassisted gas flow rates and it's liquids rich. And you can see the composition there through the various methane, ethane and the higher C categories there. But what we've also been contending with is a very large amount of water production that you can see as a ratio of 1,000 barrels to million scf. So that's what really we were working through. We will continue that cleanup phase, and we expect to commence the production test as we hit the dry season into the quarter 4. And then following extended production testing, we shift to the commerciality through well optimization and also high-grading those areas, identification of them. So there's work to be done there, good initial signs, more work to be done. And the next thing that you should be looking forward for us is really that extended production test, and we'll keep you inf
Apologize if this was already posted. There is some additional Beetaloo info in the February earnings call transcript, which you can find from the following 2 links:
https://www.yahoo.com/entertainment/edited-transcript-org-ax-earnings-220000531.html
https://seekingalpha.com/article/4369834-origin-energy-limited-ogfgf-ceo-frank-calabria-on-q4-2020-results-earnings-call-transcript
https://www.afr.com/politics/federal/beetaloo-basin-on-59b-infrastructure-wish-list-20210225-p575os
Here are 2 recent links:
https://www.reddit.com/r/pennystocks/comments/5zvi8x/thoughts_on_folgf/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf
https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/l74f7c/falcon_oil_and_gas_beetaloo_basin/?%24deep_link=true&correlation_id=7b9df114-2a00-4836-bd0c-6e69725725c7&ref=email_post_reply&ref_campaign=email_post_reply&ref_source=email&%243p=e_as&_branch_match_id=840253828442241324
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•Posted byu/Flat-Club2796
23 days ago
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Beetaloo Govt Backed Beetaloo Basin - Santos, Origin and Falcon; could be largest shale gas deposit in world
YOLO
https://www.reddit.com/r/stocks/comments/l74f7c/falcon_oil_and_gas_beetaloo_basin/glmpetk?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3
Newt - I agree. I was ignoring the rantings and focusing on the possibility that the Sweetpea shares might be off the market.
part 3:
Petrohunter Energy Corporation, which was bankrupt.
It’s unclear how the ownership of Sweetpea came to be in Longview’s hands following TS Capital’s acquisition.
Telles is also Longview’s registered agent in California. He did not respond to questions about Sweetpea’s ownership emailed to him by Guardian Australia at his law firm address.
O’Quigley did not answer Guardian Australia’s detailed questions about Falcon’s ownership structure or the roles of Vekselberg and Mayorets at the company.
In an email, he said Falcon met corporate disclosure rules set down by the Canadian government.
The Coalition's plan to use gas to stimulate manufacturing will fail
Guy Dundas
Read more
In its report released this week, Publish What You Pay and the Tax Justice Network raised concerns about the structures of Falcon and other companies in the gas sector and said the Morrison government should rule out using taxpayers’ money to effectively subsidise operators that have unclear ownership or are registered in tax havens.
“The government must introduce a public list of the people who ultimately own and financially benefit from companies,” the director of Publish What You Pay, Clancy Moore, said.
“Unfortunately, the recent open government partnership, led by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, seems to have slammed the door shut on a beneficial ownership register in Australia.”
The Tax Justice Network spokesman Mark Zirnsak said a beneficial ownership register would help the government ensure it was dealing with reliable people.
“If the companies in question break Australian law, there is a need to know that the ultimate owners can be held to account and not simply vanish behind the veil of an anonymous shell company,” he said.
“The Australian government also has an obligation to ensure the people it is dealing with are not under any sort of international sanctions, which will be impossible if the ultimate ownership is hidden.”
However, environment groups and Indigenous traditional landowners have long been concerned about the effect fracking the area might have on the water table.
Australian politics: subscribe by email
Read more
Indigenous groups, assisted by activist group GetUp, raised concerns about the project at last year’s Origin shareholder meeting and did so again at this year’s AGM on Tuesday.
“Origin has not tried to seek consent for fracking from the traditional owners, and we will never give it,” said Naomi Wilfred, an Alawa traditional owner whose country covers the northern part of the project.
An Origin spokesman said the company worked closely with traditional owners to determine drill sites and was not exploring for gas in the area covered by Wilfred’s claim.
A motion put up by the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility calling on Origin to explain its arrangements with Beetaloo’s traditional owners failed, with 88% of votes cast against.
Last year, a South African commission of inquiry investigating bribery and fraud in the country’s government heard allegations from one individual that Falcon offered a South African company a facilities management contract in return for help getting the country’s prime minister to loosen fracking laws.
Falcon’s chief executive, Philip O’Quigley denied the allegations, the Irish Times reported, and the South African inquiry has not made any findings against Falcon.
A Vekselberg-controlled company called Lamesa Holdings owns 16% of Falcon, making it the company’s biggest shareholder. Another Russian businessman, Maxim Mayorets, who was formerly on the board of Vekselberg’s best-known corporate vehicle, Renova, also sits on the Falcon board.
Vekselberg, who Forbes values at more than US$11bn, made his fortune from aluminium and is famous for his collection of jewel-encrusted Faberge eggs, which is said to be the largest in the world.
In April 2018, the US treasury named him among seven oligarchs it hit with financial sanctions, freezing their US assets and prohibiting Americans from doing business with them, over a number of matters including the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Treasury said he was “designated for operating in the energy sector of the Russian Federation economy” and at the same time banned his Renova group.
Falcon’s second-biggest shareholder, owning 6.28%, is an Australian company that has long been associated with the Beetaloo project, Sweetpea Petroleum.
The current owners of Sweetpea, Longview Petroleum, is registered in the US state of Delaware, but it remains unclear who exactly owns Longview.
Delaware has long been one of the world’s top secrecy jurisdictions due to issues including its banking laws and its failure to publicly disclose the shareholders of companies.
However, a US court last year allowed TS Capital, an investment company owned equally by lawyers Robert Telles and David Siegel, to buy Sweetpea from its previous owner, Petrohunt
Apologies if this was posted previously, but I just ran into this article.
A Faberge egg-collecting Russian oligarch who the US has hit with financial sanctions is set to benefit from the Morrison government’s gas-led recovery, it can be revealed.
And a mysterious company registered in secrecy-haven Delaware is also in line to reap dividends if one of the key gas basins the government has earmarked for quick development can be successfully fracked.
Viktor Vekselberg, who was sanctioned in 2018 over a number of matters including Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, and Delaware company Longview Petroleum, the ultimate owners of which are not clear, hold substantial stakes in Falcon Oil & Gas, which is involved in developing a fracking project in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo basin.
The Beetaloo basin is one of five gas basins flagged for “unlocking” by the resources minister, Keith Pitt, who has set aside $28.3m to come up with “strategic basin plans” to accelerate their development. The move is part of the prime minister Scott Morrison’s plan to help revive the coronavirus-stricken economy through increased domestic gas production.
Falcon is one of several overseas companies identified as standing to benefit from any gas boom by activist groups Publish What You Pay and the Tax Justice Network, which in a new report raised concerns about opaque ownership structures and the use of tax and secrecy jurisdictions in the sector as a whole.
The company, which is registered in Canada but run from Ireland, owns a little under a fifth of a Beetaloo basin exploration project, the rest of which is owned by the company charged with developing it – Australian energy group Origin Energy.
While Origin has yet to identify how much gas might be available in the exploration area, the sub-basin of which it is part has previously been identified by the NT government as the richest in the territory, containing about 70% of its gas.
Pitt and the energy minister, Angus Taylor, visited the Beetaloo basin over the weekend, with Taylor calling it “a world-class resource that has the potential to drive significant development in the Top End to create local jobs and help Australia remain a world leader in gas”.
Pitt last month committed the government to developing a strategic basin plan for the area, which a spokesman for the minister told Guardian Australia would “establish what resource opportunities are present; how we can accelerate, coordinate, and optimise development; and how this will secure gas supplies for Australian manufacturing and provide jobs for Australian workers and opportunity for Australian businesses”.
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/oct/20/putins-blackl
I would prefer to keep this board positive and useful. Post info relevant to this stock,. Do not post reviews of the people that are posting. I doubt that anyone cares what each of us thinks of each poster. Keep it relevant.
I di not spend much time analyzing, but an observation based on market cap of exploration and production companies, Santos and Origin both seemed to have a good pop. Of course Origin is a utility also, and the utilities generally did not see these share price appreciation.
resources support an expansion or LNG facilities there on top of supplying the east coast and the Gladstone export plants. That phase, also involving up to $1 billion, is anticipated in the early 2030s.Expectations around the potential for Beetaloo gas surged last month on better-than-expected test results from a well drilled by Santos and Tamboran, which caused Tamboran chief executive Joel Riddle to describe the region as "the hottest play on the planet".Mr Riddle was optimistic of initial volumes of gas from the Beetaloo reaching the east coast as early as 2023 or 2024, although Mr Tudor said 2025 was more realistic given the need for new pipeline infrastructure.In all, Jemena's plan involves building more than 2000 kilometres of pipeline infrastructure over the next five to 10 years. About 4000 jobs would be created, mostly in regional areas.But the plan is effectively in competition with other proposed pipelines targeting Beetaloo gas, including a 950 kilometre line proposed by Cheung Kong Group, Central Petroleum and Macquarie that would connect the NT to the east coast grid southwards via Moomba in South Australia's north. Pipeline giant APA Group is meanwhile examining a $700 million expansion of capacity to bring gas south from Queensland.Mr Tudor said the rivalry is healthy to ensure the most cost-effective option is built, but it was important to avoid duplication and leverage off infrastructure already in place.He said it made more sense to focus Beetaloo gas towards LNG export plants in Gladstone and to use LNG imports to meet demand in the south through terminals that could be more rapidly developed and take advantage of seasonal opportunities to buy cheaper cargoes during the Northern Hemisphere summer.The new Beetaloo pipeline, which would be open access, would have a capacity of about 180 terajoules a day, while the Galilee Gas Pipeline – already the focus of an infrastructure agreement between Jemena and explorer Galilee Energy – would be about 200 TJ/day. The NGP would be progressively expanded from around 90 TJ/day to 1000 TJ/day.The Galilee Basin is also among the strategic areas identified in the federal government's gas plan.
https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/jemena-eyes-partners-for-5b-plus-northern-gas-push-20201109-p56cri
Nov 11, 2020 – 12.00amPipeline owner Jemena has unveiled plans for a potential $5 billion-plus expansion and extension of its grid in Australia's north to bring gas from the remote Northern Territory to the east coast and is on the lookout for partners to join the ambitious project.A deal that the Chinese-controlled gas pipeline has signed with NT shale gas explorer Tamboran Resources for the transportation of gas from the Beetaloo Basin is the starting point for the expansion project, which would involve new pipelines in both the NT and Queensland.Jemena's Northern Gas Pipeline between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa would be expanded as part of the plan. Jemena"It’s part of a broader strategy to develop the critical infrastructure that's required to get the Beetaloo effectively moving quickly, and then the ability to scale it up as well," Jemena chief executive Frank Tudor said in an interview."It's going to be an enormous challenge in terms of he opportunities in the North and the South and we would certainly be open to working with partners to develop that."While unlisted Jemena, owned by China's State Grid Corporation and Singapore Power, hasn't previously partnered up for gas pipelines, Mr Tudor said it "makes sense" given the size of the project, the risks and the development lead times involved.Speaking ahead of a formal announcement of the plan at a conference in Darwin on Wednesday, he said partners could "absolutely" include infrastructure investors or pension funds: "Australian-based super funds... all of those would make admirable partners."The venture could apply for funding support from federal government initiatives to promote gas infrastructure, either through measures included in the gas plan for a recovery from COVID-19 or the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility.The Beetaloo Basin is one of the strategic gas provinces singled out in the Morrison government's gas plan announced in September, which also set out the aim to develop the gas hub at Wallumbilla near Roma into a mini version of the US's Henry Hub."If we are talking about having to up-size a pipeline above what the immediate requirements were with a view to a longer-term game, then yes that's certainly something we talk to government about, and the likes of NAIF and other potential government agencies that could support that effort," Mr Tudor said.The project would start with two new billion-dollar pipelines, one to connect the Beetaloo to Jemena's Northern Gas Pipeline between Tennant Creek and Mount Isa in Queensland, the only existing pipeline outlet for NT gas beyond its borders, and the second to connect the inland Galilee Basin in Queensland to Wallumbilla. Those could be completed by 2025.The biggest part of the project involves a circa $3 billion expansion of the small NGP and its extension to link with the Galilee pipeline, envisaged in the late 2020s.A third phase would see the Beetaloo pipeline extended north to Darwin, assuming the basin's vas
Origin could be keeping this tight for several reason, including competitive reasons and wanting to be consitent with their practice of when and what they disclose in press releases. There are lots of U.S. E&P companies that do not announce well results, period. Many smaller companies tend to want to press release everything. Regardless, I do not think that Origin or FOG stated in any press release that they would announce preliminary results.
FOG's October 2 press release stated: "Early stage gas flow rates are expected in the coming weeks" Note that they did not say they would announce results of the early state gas flow rates."
"Philip O’Quigley (CEO of Falcon) commented: 'We look forward to the next phase of operations with the production testing of the Kyalla 117 well and will update the market as results become available.'" Note that they did say they will update production testing as results become available.
IT - Petrohunter filed for a Chapter 7 liquidation in 2016, meaning it will be completely liquidated. The Bankruptcy Trustee is most likely liquidating the shares of Falcon. This may be the last step before winding it up. At the time of its 2016 bankruptcy, PH owned 11 wellbores in the Piceance Basin in western Colorado, plus two exploration permits in Australia. As its remaining assets (probably only the Falcon shares)are sold off, it makes distributions to the note holders based on their priority. The RENN Fund was one noteholder holding $1 MM of one class of notes, and it announced that it had received a distribution from the Petrohunter bankruptcy estate. I could not determined from the limited data available free of cost online how many shares of Falcon have been sold. If someone were to look into the bankruptcy filings, they could most likely determine what remains to be sold. Here is a link to a site that can be subscribed to for the filings.
https://www.docketbird.com/court-cases/PetroHunter-Energy-Corporation/cob-1:2016-bk-20197
While this is a good data point, there is a lot of science required to on these vast resources. Hopefully the producers drilling these initial wells are sharing their proprietary data with one another. I like hearing the comparison to the Marcellus, but time will tell.