The state-owned utility needs to replace the generation capacity it will lose by closing down all its coal-fired power stations over the next four years.
Australia is the one of the world's biggest producer of liquefied natural gas. The North West Shelf, Pluto, Gorgon, Wheatstone, Prelude and Ichthys LNG projects source their gas from the waters off WA.
Andrew Forrest is considering joining the world’s biggest LNG buyer to ship gas to NSW to alleviate the east coast gas shortage caused by soaring LNG exports from Queensland.
The Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects are now enjoying cash margins of more than $US30 a barrel at a $US50 price and production from the $111 billion mega-projects is expected to increase.
Buck-passing between oil giants over who pays for the upkeep of the ageing North West Shelf LNG plant has emerged as the biggest hurdle to Woodside sending its Browse gas to the facility.
The $US37 billion Ichthys LNG project is on track to start up next March as its two giant vessels moored about 200km off the Kimberley are readied for production.
Chevron chief executive John Watson says his company should have done more engineering and planning before it sanctioned the Gorgon LNG project in 2009.
Too much hot air around the LNG trains on Barrow Island has caused Chevron to flag a production cut at Gorgon as the US giant tackles problems onshore and offshore.
Woodside and ConocoPhillips are gravitating toward the cheapest development options for their Browse and Barossa gas fields to compete with low-cost Qatar.
