Archive for December, 2011
Woodside hit with Browse costs, doubts: report
Business Spectator
Woodside Petroleum Ltd is facing growing doubts about its plans to use the James Price Point location on the Kimberley coast for its Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project amid estimates the building cost could rise beyond $US40 billion and a move yesterday by Woodside’s partners in the project to avoid endorsing the choice of James Price Point, according to a report by the Australian Financial Review.
Lowering the boom on WA’s biggest 2011 resources bust-ups
SMH
Rania Spooner
1. Shifting sands of the Browse Basin LNG hub
The future of a $35 billion liquefied natural gas hub – originally proposed to sit at James Price Point in the Kimberley – has been shifted so many times that it now looks set to be moved more than 1000 kilometres to Karratha.
2011 scandals will stick for WA miners
WA Today
Rania Spooner
The scandal and delays that followed the decision to build a gas hub at James Price Point have damaged the reputations of Woodside and the WA Government, according to a specialist in public perception.
“Browse has become a national scandal,” said Katherine Teh-White, the managing director of corporate risk firm Futureye.
NT eyes another major WA project
NT News
NIGEL ADLAM
THE decision by Woodside to put back its final investment decision on a $35 billion gas hub in Western Australia gives the Territory a chance of stealing the project.
Chief Minister Paul Henderson has asked the company to consider moving the hub to Darwin.
Woodside has delayed its investment decision by six months until the first half of 2013.
$30bn gas hub hits funding delay
The Australian
AMANDA O’BRIEN
WOODSIDE’S plan to build a $30 billion gas processing plant in the remote Kimberley – which has been plagued by court battles and protests – ran into more strife yesterday when a final investment decision was delayed.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett denied the project was in jeopardy as he talked up the benefits for local Aborigines.
Woodside seeks year’s delay on Browse LNG project
The Australian
MATT CHAMBERS
WOODSIDE Petroleum has requested a year’s grace on the mid-2012 deadline for a final investment decision on the Browse liquefied natural gas project, in a potential blow to plans for an LNG plant at James Price Point, 60km north of Broome.
While chief executive Peter Coleman says Woodside remains committed to its investigations at the site, he says the company needs to closely watch the cost structure of the huge project when the tenders start coming in early next year.
Gas hub delay good for WA: Barnett
The West Australian
DANIEL EMERSON and FLIP PRIOR
Premier Colin Barnett predicted yesterday the $30 billion gas processing precinct at James Price Point would go ahead despite Woodside Petroleum delaying its final investment decision for up to a year.
While environmentalists greeted the delay as “another nail in the coffin” of the project, Mr Barnett said it was common for such big projects to take time.
Woodside gas plant doubts
The Sydney Morning Herald
Peter Ker, Rania Spooner
HOPES that Woodside Petroleum will abandon plans to build a massive gas plant near Broome have been boosted by news that a final investment decision on the controversial $30 billion Browse LNG project will be delayed until 2013.
West Australian Premier Colin Barnett last night indicated his government was likely to accommodate Woodside’s request for the decision deadline to be relaxed from its present date of mid-2012 until some time in 2013.
Wet season drilling worries green group
ABC
Conservationists in Western Australia have raised concerns about oil and gas drilling continuing in the Kimberley during the wet season.
The Wilderness Society of WA says Buru Energy is being unsafe by planning to drill for the resources in the Canning Basin during the cyclone season.
Cane toad sausages served up in the Kimberley
ABC
Poisonous sausages containing toad meat are being trialled in the Kimberley to try and protect native animals from cane toads’ deadly impact.
The Western Australian Department of Environment and Conservation has been working with the University of Sydney to develop baits to train native animals not to eat the toads.