Bloomberg: Chevron’s Exit Signals Delays in Unlocking Australia’s Shale
Chevron Corp.’s decision to pull out of a natural gas project in Australia after a plunge in oil prices is a signal it’s going to take even longer for the nation to realize its shale ambitions.
Tapping Australia’s shale oil and gas was already challenging due to high drilling costs and the remote locations of its fields, with significant production forecast to be at least several years away. An almost 50 percent drop in the price of crude over the past year makes it harder.
“The pace will be considerably slower than anyone would have forecast 18 months to two years ago,” Geoffrey Cann, Australian director of oil and gas for Deloitte LLP in Brisbane, said in a phone interview.
The languishing oil prices are stalling efforts to replicate the U.S. shale boom globally. Big producers ConocoPhillips, Hess Corp. and Statoil ASA have already beaten Chevron out the shale door in Australia. MORE