Regional LNG: North West Shelf says no damage from tsunami

North West Shelf, Australia's biggest oil and gas venture, which is off the coast of northwestern Australia, didn't suffer any damages from last weekend's earthquake off neighboring Indonesia, a company spokesman told Dow Jones Wednesday.

The region's biggest asset only experienced a minor delay in loading a transport ship at Western Australia's Burrup Peninsula.

?A shipment of liquefied natural gas was delayed for two hours on Dec. 26 as a precaution after the earthquake struck,? said Tony Johnson, a spokesman for Woodside Petroleum Ltd, which operates the venture.

The delay, which is not expected to have an impact on delivery of liquefied natural gas (LNG), was taken as a precautionary measure due to a higher than normal tides, the spokesman added.

The North West Shelf project has long term sales contracts of LNG with China, Japan and South Korea. It is an equal six-way venture comprising Woodside, BHP Billiton, Royal Dutch/Shell Group, ChevronTexaco Corp., BP, and Japan Australia LNG. (*)