🎁 💸 Warren Buffett's Top Picks Are Up +49.1%. Copy Them to Your Watchlist – For FreeCopy Portfolio

UPDATE 2-Australia's Woodside starts commissioning at Greater Enfield oil project

Published 10/07/2019, 08:08 pm
© Reuters.  UPDATE 2-Australia's Woodside starts commissioning at Greater Enfield oil project
WDS
-
8031
-

* FPSO back at Vincent field for over a month - source

* Vincent cargo may load in Aug or Sept - sources

* Strong demand expected for Vincent in Asia ahead of IMO2020 (Adds strong demand for heavy sweet crude)

By Florence Tan

SINGAPORE, July 10 (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Petroleum Ltd WPL.AX has started commissioning activities at the $1.9 billion Greater Enfield oil project off the state of Western Australia, two people with knowledge of the matter said on Wednesday.

Oil from the project is expected to be sought after by traders in Asia. Australian crude similar to the quality expected from Greater Enfield is selling at record premiums as the oil, in limited supply, can be blended directly with high-sulphur fuel oil to reduce its sulphur content to 0.5% to meet new marine fuel specification for the shipping industry. Greater Enfield project is in the process of "commissioning and ramping up" production, one of the people said, adding that the floating, production, storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel has been at the field for over a month now.

The sources declined to be identified because they were not authorised to speak to the media.

The project included the development of new oil resources and linking them to an existing oilfield called Vincent.

Production at the Vincent field, located 50 km (30 miles) offshore Exmouth, Western Australia, had been suspended since May 2018 so that the Ngujima-Yin FPSO could be modified to accommodate output from Greater Enfield.

Woodside operates the Greater Enfield project and has a 60% stake, while Mitsui E&P Australia Pty Ltd, a subsidiary of Japanese trading house Mitsui & Co 8031.T , owns the remaining 40%. Production is expected to reach 60,000 barrels per day (bpd) when the project runs at full rate.

The project, scheduled to resume production in mid-2019, was on track, said a senior executive at Mitsui.

A Woodside spokeswoman said the company will provide an update on the project's status in its second-quarter results which will be released on July 18.

"Mitsui and Woodside will continue to jointly market Vincent crude, but at this stage no cargoes have been offered to the market," she said in an e-mail.

The first cargo of Vincent crude from the expanded production may load in August or September, said two trade sources.

The new oil's quality is expected to be a "little lighter and sweeter" than before, the sources said.

Previously, Vincent crude's API gravity was 17 degrees and it contained about 0.3% sulphur, one of the sources said.

Latest comments

Risk Disclosure: Trading in financial instruments and/or cryptocurrencies involves high risks including the risk of losing some, or all, of your investment amount, and may not be suitable for all investors. Prices of cryptocurrencies are extremely volatile and may be affected by external factors such as financial, regulatory or political events. Trading on margin increases the financial risks.
Before deciding to trade in financial instrument or cryptocurrencies you should be fully informed of the risks and costs associated with trading the financial markets, carefully consider your investment objectives, level of experience, and risk appetite, and seek professional advice where needed.
Fusion Media would like to remind you that the data contained in this website is not necessarily real-time nor accurate. The data and prices on the website are not necessarily provided by any market or exchange, but may be provided by market makers, and so prices may not be accurate and may differ from the actual price at any given market, meaning prices are indicative and not appropriate for trading purposes. Fusion Media and any provider of the data contained in this website will not accept liability for any loss or damage as a result of your trading, or your reliance on the information contained within this website.
It is prohibited to use, store, reproduce, display, modify, transmit or distribute the data contained in this website without the explicit prior written permission of Fusion Media and/or the data provider. All intellectual property rights are reserved by the providers and/or the exchange providing the data contained in this website.
Fusion Media may be compensated by the advertisers that appear on the website, based on your interaction with the advertisements or advertisers.
© 2007-2024 - Fusion Media Limited. All Rights Reserved.