Hess moving forward on Equus

US petroleum company Hess is pursuing development of its Equus gas field off the Pilbara coast, with senior manager Andrew Drayton telling the Australasian Oil & Gas conference today it would proceed with a variety of tendering opportunities this year, including for subsea work.

But he said onshore holdings in the Canning Basin would be on pause for the forseeable future.

A move on the Equss project, which Mr Drayton expected would go to final investment decision in mid-2017, would be a boost for the state’s energy contractors reeling from a collapse in commodity prices and lack of new developments.

Mr Drayton said Equus production would be on a floating platform and confirmed Hess would seek to liquefy the gas at a third-party facility, with the company having previously announced a letter of intent for a toll treatment agreement with the Woodside Petroleum-operated North West Shelf Venture.

Hess has completed front-end engineering and design (FEED) studies for Equus, and had put the project on hold while battling to sign off agreements to use the NWS plant on the Burrup Peninsula as a third party processor, although Mr Drayton said that negotiation had now been revitalised.

The project would be conducted in three phases, with sixteen wells across eight fields, he said, with production to use a semi-submersible floating system.

That would have a four posted hull and topsides.

Globally, Hess produced about 1.4 billion barrels of oil equivalent in 2014.

The US-based company has a number of interests globally, including Guyana and Norway, although it specialises in deepwater work, Mr Drayton said.

More than 50 people are employed in the Perth office.