Bloomberg: Africa Gas Rush Imperils $100 Billion In Australian LNG

The discovery along Africa’s east coast of the world’s biggest gas finds in a decade threatens to undo investment plans on the other side of the Indian Ocean.

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, BG Group Plc of the U.K. and France’s Total SA may scale back projects to build liquefied natural gas export plants in Australia and switch to Tanzania and Mozambique, where the new prospects lie and will cost about half as much, according to Jefferies International Ltd.

The LNG boom in Australia, where $180 billion of planned investment was set to make gas the country’s fastest-growing export over the next five years, risks losing strength as labor and material shortages force up building costs. As energy companies consider the next $100 billion of projects, a switch to East Africa would hold back Australia’s market share in China and India, where energy consumption is forecast rise more than 60 percent by 2030. MORE