- The North West Shelf's infrastructure near Karratha is already in place.
- Woodside's partners: Shell (8.3%), Chevron (16.7%), BHP Billiton (8.3%) and BP (16.7%) would be considering the strong option of refilling the N.W.S. reserves when they run low in 10 years time with Browse LNG.
- Piping gas from the Browse to Karratha is a far cheaper option than construction of a hub at Prices Point.
- There are uncertainties concerning the KLC especially with their recent negotiations with the Federal Government regarding future benefits for traditional owners.
- Environmental groups and the Broome Shire are opposed to LNG development at Prices Point.
- Woodside's partners are already heavily committed to other projects including Gorgon which has three times the gas reserves of Browse and is the biggest resources project in Australian history.
- In the present economic downturn, will the joint Venture Partners be wary about developing a greenfields site at Prices Point especially now that the cost of the project may have blown out to as much as $50 billion.
- The development of the Woodside Browse will only incrementally boost LNG output which makes it very hard to justify another expensive project at Prices Point.
- If Shell is working on a floating LNG plant, why is this not an option for Browse LNG?
(these views based on an article in the West Australian July 1st 2009)
No comments:
Post a Comment