Woodside open to talks with Chinese firms for Scarborough gas project
ADELAIDE, Australia, May 16 (Reuters) - Woodside Energy Group said on Tuesday it is open to talks with Chinese firms to invest in its $12 billion Scarborough liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in Australia.
The company has also started talks with a number of prospective buyers for LNG supplies from the project, Woodside Chief Executive Meg O'Neill told reporters on the sidelines of the APPEA industry conference.
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"At this point in time, we're not talking to any Chinese prospective partners, but we would welcome the opportunity to bring a partner in," she said.
"I've said for a while that we want a quality counterparty who recognizes the value of Scarborough and pays us a fair price, and there's plenty of Chinese companies that certainly meet the criteria of a quality counterparty."
The proposed Scarborough plant is Woodside's biggest growth project, and had been 30% complete as of April.
Woodside said in February that its Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 projects remain on track for targeted first LNG production in 2026.
O'Neill said Woodside remains confident about Browse LNG, its other joint venture project, despite Shell's exit.
"There's still a very strong appetite for Browse LNG," she said, as gas from the project is rich and well-suited for Japan.
"The Japanese market is quite interested and remains very interested in Browse gas. U.S. LNG is quite lean, and so it's not as good a fit for their system."
So-called rich natural gas refers to that with a higher calorific value, whereas lean has a low calorific value.
BP became Browse's largest shareholder after it agreed last month to buy Shell's 27% stake in the project.
The Browse project, estimated to cost $20.5 billion, has been on the drawing board for years but is now being considered as a replacement for ageing gas fields to supply the North West Shelf LNG plant. (Reporting by Emily Chow; Writing by Florence Tan; Editing by Alexander Smith)