23rd Jan 2008 07:00
BHP Billiton PLC23 January 2008 23 January 2008Number 03/08 BHP BILLITON QUARTERLY REPORT ON EXPLORATION AND DEVELOPMENT ACTIVITIES QUARTER ENDED 31 DECEMBER 2007 This report covers the Company's exploration and development activities for thequarter ended 31 December 2007. This report together with the Production Reportrepresents the Interim Management Statement for the purposes of the UK ListingAuthority's Disclosure and Transparency Rules. Unless otherwise stated, BHPBilliton's interest in the projects referred to in this report is 100 per centand references to project schedules are based on calendar years. DEVELOPMENT First production was successfully achieved at seven major projects during thequarter ended 31 December 2007; Genghis Khan, Atlantis South and Stybarrow, (oiland gas) Koala Underground (diamonds), Pinto Valley (copper in concentrate)Rapid Growth Project 3 (iron ore) and Ravensthorpe (nickel intermediateproduct). These projects will not be reported in future Exploration andDevelopment Reports. Further details of the project's capital cost will be made available when theGroup announces its interim results on 6 February 2008. During the quarter the Kipper project (oil and gas), Klipspruit (energy coal)and the Gemco expansion project (manganese) were sanctioned and in January, thecompany announced the sanctioning of the Newcastle Third Port Project. +-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|PROJECT AND |SHARE OF |INITIAL |PRODUCTION |QUARTERLY PROGRESS ||OWNERSHIP |APPROVED |PRODUCTION |CAPACITY | || |CAPEX US$M |TARGET DATE |(100%) | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Petroleum Projects | | | | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Neptune (US) | 405|Q1 CY08 |50,000 |On budget and schedule. Drying||35% | | |barrels of |of the gas export line was ||Oil/Gas | | |oil and 50 |completed and is ready for || | | |million cubic|commissioning. Offshore hookup|| | | |feet gas per |and commissioning of the || | | |day |topsides continued. Drilling || | | | |of the fifth well in progress || | | | |with four of seven wells || | | | |completed. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Stybarrow | 380|End CY07 |80,000 |First oil announced, see ||(Australia) | | |barrels of |News@BHPBilliton dated 19 ||50% | | |oil per day |November 2007. ||Oil/Gas | | | | || | | | |Stybarrow is currently || | | | |producing consistently at || | | | |design capacity of 80,000 || | | | |barrels a day and in less than|| | | | |two months of operation, || | | | |Stybarrow has offloaded a || | | | |total of 2.5 million barrels || | | | |of oil. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|North West Shelf | 200|End CY08 |800 million |On schedule and budget. Jacket||Angel (Australia) | | |cubic feet |installed. ||16.67% | | |gas per day | ||Oil/Gas | | |and 50,000 | || | | |bpd | || | | |condensate | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|North West Shelf | 350|Late CY08 |LNG |On schedule and budget. Onsite||Train 5 | | |processing |construction and hookup ||(Australia) | | |capacity of |continued. ||16.67% | | |4.2 million | ||LNG | | |tpa | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Shenzi (US) | 1,940|Mid CY09 |100,000 |On schedule and budget. Hull ||44% | | |barrels of |fabrication completed and ||Oil/Gas | | |oil and 50 |ready for sail away to Gulf of|| | | |million cubic|Mexico, US. || | | |feet gas per | || | | |day | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Pyrenees | 1,200|1H CY10 |96,000 |On schedule and budget. ||(Australia) | | |barrels of |Floating Production Storage ||71.43% | | |oil and 60 |and Offtake (FPSO) conversion ||Oil/Gas | | |million cubic|commenced. || | | |feet gas per | || | | |day | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Bass Strait Kipper | 500|CY11 |10,000 bpd |Approval announced, see ||(Australia) | | |condensate |News@BHPBilliton dated 19 ||32.5% - 50% | | |and |December 2007. ||Gas/Gas Liquids | | |processing | || | | |capacity of |The first phase of the project|| | | |80 million |includes two new subsea wells,|| | | |cubic feet |three new pipelines and || | | |gas per day |platform modifications. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Minerals Projects | | | | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Alumar - Refinery | 725|Q2 CY09 |2 million tpa|On revised schedule and ||Expansion (Brazil) | | |of alumina |budget. Detailed engineering ||36% | | | |substantially complete, with ||Alumina | | | |procurement almost complete || | | | |and construction well || | | | |underway. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Pinto Valley | 140|Q4 CY07 |70,000 tpa |First shipment of copper ||Restart (USA) | | |copper |concentrate achieved in ||100% | | |concentrate |October 2007. ||Copper | | | | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Koala Underground | 200|End CY07 |3,300 tonnes |First production announced see||(Canada) | | |per day ore |News@bhpbilliton dated 17 ||80% | | |processed |December 2007. The Project was||Diamonds | | | |completed ahead of schedule || | | | |and under budget and mine || | | | |development is well positioned|| | | | |for production ramp up. || | | | |Underground critical systems || | | | |were commissioned and turned || | | | |over to operations in December|| | | | |2007. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Ravensthorpe | 2,200|Q1 CY08 |Up to 50,000 |The Ravensthorpe project was ||(Australia) | | |tpa contained|commissioned in the December ||100% | | |nickel in |quarter, in line with the ||Nickel | | |mixed |revised schedule and under || | | |nickel-cobalt|approved capital budget. First|| | | |hydroxide |production was achieved in || | | |product |October 2007, and the first || | | | |5000t production milestone was|| | | | |achieved in December 2007. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Yabulu (Australia) | 556|Q1 CY08 |45,000 tpa |On revised schedule and ||100% | | |nickel |budget. The Yabulu Expansion ||Nickel | | | |is mechanically complete and || | | | |is awaiting sufficient mixed || | | | |nickel-cobalt hydroxide (MHP) || | | | |from Ravensthorpe to commence || | | | |nickel metal production. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Cliffs (Australia) | 139|1H CY08 |360,000 tpa |On schedule and budget. Total ||100% | | |nickel ore |project progress is 32% ||Nickel | | | |complete. First ventilation || | | | |shaft completed and earthworks|| | | | |have commenced. Engineering is|| | | | |98% complete. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Iron Ore (Western | 1,300|Q4 CY07 |20 million |Engineering, procurement and ||Australia) | | |tpa |construction activities are ||RGP3 | | |additional |complete. Ramp-up at the mine ||85% | | |iron ore |is underway. Port expansion is||Iron Ore | | |system |operating at design || | | |capacity |performance levels. Shipping || | | | |in December exceeded RGP3 || | | | |rates of 129 million tpa. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Iron Ore (Western | 1,850|1H CY10 |26 million |On schedule and budget in ||Australia) | | |tpa |local currency. Engineering ||RGP4 | | |additional |progress is now over 70% ||86.2% | | |iron ore |complete and construction ||Iron Ore | | |system |progress over 15%. Mainline || | | |capacity |rail capacity now at 155mtpa. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Samarco Third | 590|1HCY08 |7.6 million |Total project progress is 94% ||Pellet Plant | | |tpa |complete with first production||(Brazil) | | |additional |expected to commence on ||50% | | |iron ore |schedule. The project is ||Iron Ore | | |capacity |within the local currency || | | | |approved budget. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Gemco (Australia) | 110|1HCY09 |Additional |Project sanctioned during the ||60% | | |1 million tpa|quarter. Civil construction ||Manganese | | |manganese |mobilised and certain long || | | |concentrate |lead items such as the Drum || | | | |Scrubber were procured out of || | | | |China. |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+|Klipspruit (South | 450|2HCY09 |Incremental |Project sanctioned during ||Africa) | | |1.8 million |quarter. See News@bhpbilliton ||100% | | |tpa export |dated 7 December 2007. ||Energy Coal | | |coal | || | | | | || | | |Incremental | || | | |2.1 million | || | | |tpa domestic | |+-------------------+-----------+-------------+-------------+------------------------------+ MINERALS EXPLORATION BHP Billiton continued to pursue global exploration opportunities for keycommodities of interest utilising both in-house capabilities and partnerships. Grassroots exploration continued on diamond targets in Angola and the DemocraticRepublic of Congo (DRC), on copper targets in Australia, Chile, Mongolia, theDRC and Kazakhstan; and on nickel targets in Australia, Brazil and Africa.Exploration for iron ore, coal, potash and bauxite was undertaken in a number ofregions including Australia, South America, Canada and West Africa. Drilling for bauxite on the Guinea, Boffa-Santou-Houda prospecting permits hasidentified a substantial area of good quality bauxite with a target of over onebillion tonnes. Work is progressing to better understand the size, grade andquality of this potential mineralisation.1 For the six months ended 31 December 2007, BHP Billiton spent US$303 million onminerals exploration of which US$236 million was expensed. 1 Competent Person Guinea: J van der Riet (MAusIMM) PETROLEUM EXPLORATION Exploration and appraisal wells drilled during the quarter or in the process ofdrilling as at 31 December 2007. +-------------------+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------+|WELL |LOCATION |BHP BILLITON EQUITY |STATUS |+-------------------+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------+|Big Foot North-1 |Green Canyon |55% BHP Billiton and |Dry hole. Plugged and || |Gulf of Mexico |operator |abandoned. || |GC-953 | | |+-------------------+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------+|Torosa-4 |Browse Basin |8.33% BHP Billiton |Hydrocarbons encountered.|| |Western Australia |(Woodside operator) |Plugged and abandoned. || |WAR | | |+-------------------+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------+|Snarf-1 |Browse Basin |20% BHP Billiton |Drilling suspended. || |Western Australia |(Woodside operator) |Waiting on rig to || |WA-275-P | |continue drilling. |+-------------------+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------+|Warrabkook-1 |Browse Basin |25% BHP Billiton and |Drilling ahead. || |Western Australia |operator | || |WA-303-P | | |+-------------------+-------------------+------------------------+-------------------------+ Petroleum exploration expenditure for the six months ended 31 December 2007 wasUS$295 million of which US$196 million was expensed. Further information on BHP Billiton can be found on our Internet site:www.bhpbilliton.com Australia United Kingdom Samantha Evans, Media Relations Andre Liebenberg, Investor Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 2898 Tel: +44 20 7802 4131 Mobile: +61 400 693 915 Mobile: +44 7920 236 974 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] Don Carroll, Investor Relations Illtud Harri, Media Relations Tel: +61 3 9609 2686 Tel: +44 20 7802 4195 Mobile: +61 417 591 938 Mobile: +44 7920 237 246 email: [email protected] email: [email protected] United States South Africa Tracey Whitehead, Investor & Media Relations Alison Gilbert, Investor Relations Tel: US +1 713 599 6100 or Tel: SA +27 11 376 2121 or UK +44 20 7802 4031 UK +44 20 7802 4183 Mobile: +44 7917 648 093 Mobile: +44 7769 936 227 email: [email protected] Email: [email protected] BHP Billiton Limited BHP Billiton Plc ABN 49 004 028 077 Registration number 3196209 Registered in Australia Registered in England and Wales Registered Office: Level 27, Registered Office: Neathouse Place 180 Lonsdale Street London SW1V 1BH Melbourne Victoria 3000 United Kingdom Telephone +61 1300 554 757 Telephone +44 20 7802 4000 Facsimile +61 3 9609 3015 Facsimile +44 20 7802 4111 The BHP Billiton Group is headquartered in Australia This information is provided by RNS The company news service from the London Stock ExchangeRelated Shares:
BHP Group