Regional LNG: Australia minister leads delegation to try to win US LNG market

Australian Industry Minister Ian Macfarlane said Tuesday he will lead a delegation to Washington to talk up Australian liquefied natural gas sales to the world's biggest economy, Dow Jones reported.

Macfarlane said this week's trip is an important "foot-in-the-door visit" because the U.S. west coast is a potential key market for Australia's LNG industry.

"Our chief goal...is to spruik the wide-ranging benefits of Australian gas and set the stage for future contracts," Macfarlane said in a statement.

"There are a number of U.S. west coast LNG import terminal proposals on the horizon and Australia is an obvious source for much of that supply," he said.

Macfarlane noted energy consumption in the U.S. is set to grow 32% over the next 20 years but all import terminals are located on the east coast of the country.

At the same time, Australia has massive undeveloped resources of natural gas, Macfarlane said.

"We use less than one trillion cubic feet of natural gas a year in Australia but we have supplies approaching 200 trillion cubic feet and exploration continues to uncover more reserves," he said.

Australian annual exports of LNG are currently worth A$2.6 billion. They are likely to double in the next few years and could reach A$10 billion in 10 to 15 years, the minister said.

Accompanying Macfarlane to Washington will be representatives from several Australian-based resource companies, including BHP Billiton Ltd. and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. .

Macfarlane said he will meet with a series of multinational resource companies as well as U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney and U.S. Secretary of Energy Spencer Abraham.(*)