Regional LNG: Australia's Woodside eyeing California LNG supply
Thursday, January 19 2006 - 02:16 AM WIB
Woodside said it could supply about 10 percent to 15 percent of the state's supply of gas, which now comes mostly from Canada, the U.S. Southwest, and the Rocky Mountain area.
The company said it plans to deliver the LNG via tankers to a site at least 15 miles off the Southern California coast, where it would be converted back to gas aboard the tankers and delivered to shore through a pipeline on the seabed. The company said it is exploring possible locations for the delivery site.
The company expected to announce a delivery point in February.
The company said that with tightening gas supplies in North America and rising prices, Woodside can tap reserves in Australia as a source of LNG for California.
Woodside would join energy competitors from Australia, Japan and the U.S. targeting California's appetite for gas for its power plants and other uses.
California consumes about 6.4 billion cubic feet a day of gas, with half of that used as fuel firing power plants, according to the state's Energy Commission.
Gas demand in the state is projected to rise by 0.7 percent a year from 2006 through 2016, below the 1.6 percent annual growth seen for the U.S. Energy efficiency programs are cutting into the state's demand, an Energy Commission spokesman said.
Another Australian company, BHP Billiton, has proposed building an LNG terminal at Cabrillo Point in Southern California.
Japan's Mitsubishi Corp. and ConocoPhillips are working on a joint LNG terminal proposed for the port of Long Beach near Los Angeles. Other gas projects off the California coast are also planned.
San Diego-based Sempra Energy is currently building LNG terminals at its Costa Azul project in Northern Baja California, Mexico, and at Cameron, Louisiana.
Woodside estimated that it would 700 million cubic feet LNG a day to California and have capacity of 1.4 billion cubic feet a day if the project proceeds.
The gas would come from Woodside's yet-to-be-developed Pluto and Browse fields off Western Australia. The company also operates Australia's North West Shelf joint venture, the company's biggest resource development and only LNG producer.(*)