Release: NWS LNG sellers sign sale and purchase agreement with Tohoku Electric
Thursday, March 6 2003 - 03:08 AM WIB
The agreement covers 0.4 million tonnes of LNG a year over an initial term of 15 years. LNG deliveries will start in 2005. Tohoku Electric will provide shipping for the LNG deliveries to Japan.
The agreement finalises negotiations that were foreshadowed on 5 February 2001 when Tohoku Electric and the North West Shelf LNG sellers announced the signing of a Letter of Intent for the LNG deliveries announced today.
Tohoku Electric provides electricity to the seven prefectures covering the northern end of Honshu and is a new customer to the North West Shelf Venture. Tohoku Electric has the largest service area in Japan and serves more than 12 million people.
The North West Shelf Venture's Chief Executive Officer, Steve Ollerearnshaw, said the agreement further underpinned the Venture's enviable reputation as a leading LNG supplier in the Asian region.
"This agreement represents another landmark in the development of the North West Shelf," Ollerearnshaw said.
"We welcome Tohoku Electric as a new customer of the North West Shelf Venture. With Tohoku Electric, we now have 10 customers in Japan compared to eight customers when the project started LNG deliveries in 1989."
"Through important relationships such as we have established with Tohoku Electric, we have been able to significantly expand our world-class gas processing facilities with the construction of a fourth LNG processing train and a second offshore pipeline at Karratha."
"This will take our overall production capacity to more than 11 million tonnes of LNG a year."
The six equal participants in the North West Shelf Venture are: Woodside Energy Ltd. (Operator); BHP Billiton Petroleum (North West Shelf) Pty Ltd; BP Developments Australia Pty Ltd; ChevronTexaco Australia Pty Ltd; Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd; and Shell Development (Australia) Proprietary Limited. (*)