Arrow to reach for the axe
Amid another story on east coast domestic gas supply fears, The Australian has revealed that Shell and Petrochina-owned Arrow is going to make job cuts as its LNG project and associated coal seam gas exploration fell further behind the other three Curtis-Island based ventures.
"It is understood that as well as high costs in Australia, Arrow's CSG wells, of which thousands would have to be drilled to supply an LNG plant, have not performed to expectations," the newspaper reported.
"It is also understood Arrow is planning redundancies this year as it scales back, but speculation that half the company's 1000-plus employees could go is overstated."
Manufacturing Australia executive director Ben Eade was reportedly frustrated that Arrow would sit on its existing gas reserves, estimated to be enough to supply the entire east coast market for 13 years, until its export LNG project economics improved.
A spokeswoman for federal Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane reportedly said there was no scope for use-it-or-lose-it provisions for onshore gas projects, then said there were gas deposits in Queensland that could be better developed for domestic rather than export markets.
However, Queensland Deputy Premier and State Development Minister Jeff Seeney had little sympathy.
"Disappointingly, the southern states of Australia haven't taken our lead and are instead pursuing policies that will harm domestic gas users," he reportedly said.
"The domestic gas situation has been exacerbated by political cowardice in NSW and Victoria, where governments have surrendered to scare campaigns that have no basis in fact."
US export ban debate
While leading US refiner Valero unveiled plans to lift its light crude processing capacity last year, the wave of supply coming from the US shale boom is putting pressure on Washington to lift the 1970s-made ban on crude exports.
According to the Financial Times, A US Senate energy committee may soon hold a hearing on the issue as it claimed "the debate will be one of the biggest oil market stories in 2014".
Analysts and refiners are already taking opposing sides on the possible impacts from lifting the ban.
Oil Price Information Service reportedly believes an export-driven lift in US light crude prices would pass on to higher American gasoline and diesel prices while Citigroup has forecast up to a 24c per gallon cut in American petrol prices.
While Valero wants the ban in place, independent refiners Phillips 66 and Marathon Petroleum reportedly want it lifted as they favour free trade.
Fraccing poll concerns in UK
A survey with more than 2000 respondents by the UK's Institution of Mechanical Engineers has found that 47% did not want fracking to take place within 10 miles of their homes.
The poll also discovered that just 30% of the respondents had a good understanding of fraccing, 40% had "some" knowledge on it while the remaining 30% had little or no understanding of it.
IME consequently saw issues with the UK government approach of offering tax breaks to fraccing-friendly councils.
"These poll results suggest that simply offering money to local councils and communities is not enough to convince the public about the benefits of fracking for gas and that much more work needs to be done to engage with citizens on this potential activity," IME heard of energy and environment Dr Tim Fox said.
"Building trust between Government, industry and communities is essential if we wish to make use of this technique in shale rocks under the UK."
