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Investors are about to find out whether the world’s largest oil companies have learned their lesson from $80 billion of cost blowouts in major projects during the era of $100 crude.
From liquefied natural gas in Mozambique to deep-oil in Guyana, the world’s biggest energy companies are gearing up to sanction the first slate of mega-projects since the price crash in 2014, Wood Mackenzie Ltd. analysts including Angus Rodger said in a report. Firms will approve about $300 billion in spending on such ventures in 2019 and 2020, more than in the three years from 2015 to 2017 combined.
That spree will provide the first real test to the capital discipline that energy companies have vowed they adopted after oil’s collapse, when they downsized their ambitions and began to complete projects on time and below budget. Before the crash, the 15 biggest oil and gas projects combined went $80 billion over budget, eating away at investor returns, Rodger said.
“Oil companies have improved their delivery in small projects, but can they do it with bigger ones?†Rodger said in a phone interview from Singapore. “There’s massive upside on the table if they can show sustained success with capital discipline as oil prices rise. They could deliver the best returns in a decade.â€
Several years of oil prices in the $100s at the start of this decade emboldened companies to take on massive, complicated projects to extract as much of the valuable oil and gas as they could, Rodger said. That spurred developments like Chevron Corp.’s Gorgon LNG project on the remote Barrow Island in western Australia, where costs ballooned from an initial expected $37 billion to $54 billion.
Cost overruns on projects sanctioned from 2008 to 2014 diluted returns to 12 percent on average, compared with an expected 19 percent at the time of investment, according to Wood Mackenzie.
“Oil companies already had a history of bad project management, and then adding $100 oil to that was like pouring gasoline on a fire,†Rodger said. “Costs got out of control.â€
Those weak returns and plummeting oil prices that began in 2014 forced energy companies to rethink the way they spend. They started targeting smaller fields or expansions of existing projects that were cheaper and could be finished quicker. Fields sanctioned since 2014 have on average been delivered ahead of schedule and under budget, Wood Mackenzie said.
While the dearth of mega projects has helped energy prices recover, with oil and LNG returning to the highest levels since 2014 earlier this year, large investments are again needed, Rodger said. What’s uncertain is whether the cost discipline energy companies enforced on smaller projects could be replicated on a much bigger scale.
For example, oilfield service providers like Halliburton Co. and Schlumberger Ltd. shrunk their workforce during the downturn, leaving only the best roughnecks to work on projects. It remains to be seen if such companies will be able to deliver as efficiently as they scale up to handle new projects, Rodger said.
Oil companies will also have to avoid the temptation from rising oil and gas prices to expand the scope of projects in order to maximize production, Rodger said. Benchmark crude Brent was trading up 0.7 percent at $73.13 a barrel as of 9:09 a.m. London on Tuesday, about 44 percent higher than a year ago.
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Seadrill Limited announced that the West Neptune has executed approximately six months of term extensions with LLOG Exploration Offshore, L.L.C in the US Gulf of Mexico. The extensions will commence in direct continuation of the existing term, and will keep the rig busy until Q3 2024, furthering Seadrill and LLOG’s long-term association. Total contract value for the extension is approximately $79 million. Source: Seadrill Join our mailing list here We are #1 on Google and Bing for the "Largest Mobile Energy Network" Come join our community! Download the Rig Lynx app here
Semisub rig owner Dolphin Drilling has inked a new contract with Peak Petroleum in Nigeria for its 1974-built Blackford Dolphin. The firm contract, which follows the letter of award in January, gives the Euronext Growth-listed owner of three rigs the potential to extend the unit’s backlog by a minimum of 120 days and up to 485 days. The deal adds to and will be a direct continuation of the previously announced 12-month contract with General Hydrocarbon Limited (GHL). Øystein Stray Spetalen-backed company said the effective dayrate associated with the minimum firm period of the contract is $325,000, including the mobilisation fee. “The final award of the contract for Blackford Dolphin shows the opportunities in Nigeria at a strong dayrate, in addition to building on the backlog for the rig. It also underlines the attractiveness of our assets, and we look forward to returning to revenue-generating operations in 2023,” noted Bjørnar Iversen, CEO of Dolphin Drilling. Source: Dolphin Join our mailing list here We are #1 on Google and Bing for the "Largest Mobile Energy Network" Come join our community! Download the Rig Lynx app here
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