Doubts about Browse despite WA support | The Australian:
WOODSIDE Petroleum's $40 billion Browse gas project looks less likely to go ahead despite the re-election of its biggest supporter, West Australian Premier Colin Barnett.
Some analysts believe the controversial proposal to build a gas plant at James Price Point, near Broome, is not economically viable due to spiralling costs and challenges securing labour.
They expect Woodside's final investment decision on Browse to be delayed by at least another year, meaning state government approvals for the project will lapse.
Photo Damian Kelly
ACTION OF THE DAY
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A MAJOR national bank has been forced to remove more than 100 misleading out of order signs from its ATMs after being targeted by anti-coal activists.
A score of ANZ Banking Group machines sprawled across six capital cities were plastered with "out of order" signs on Sunday after campaigners launched their latest bid to draw attention to the bank's funding of the coal industry.
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Chevron having spent a fortune on LNG in WA already,is praying oil linked prices will keep the cost of LNG up.
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Costs off the boil in west, says Chevron
ENERGY giant Chevron, which last year revealed a $9 billion cost blowout at the now $52bn Gorgon LNG project, says cost pressures are starting to ease in Western Australia's heated construction sector.
The US major also says it has no plans to sell its 50 per cent stake in Australian refiner and fuel marketer Caltex as part of a program to prune non-core assets.
Speaking to analysts in the US yesterday, Chevron chief executive John Watson said a pullback in spending plans by big miners was starting to cool the WA construction market.
"There has been some abatement in costs," Mr Watson said. "You've seen some mining projects fall over, so you've seen an easing in some of those pressures. Having said that, it's still a very expensive labour market."
The biggest reduction in plans has been by BHP Billiton, which in August confirmed it had shelved plans to build a $US20bn ($19.4bn) Outer Harbour expansion at Port Hedland and a $30bn expansion of the Olympic Dam copper and uranium mine in South Australia.
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The Chevron comments follow similar ones from Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman -- who is studying building the $40bn Browse LNG plant near Broome -- and Shell Australia chairwoman Ann Pickard.
Mr Watson, who will visit Perth next week, said Chevron was still keen to expand both Gorgon and the $29bn Wheatstone LNG project, both being built in WA's northwest.
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Mr Watson said he did not think recent calls from LNG buyers such as Japan to move away from oil-linked LNG pricing were sustainable because prices needed to remain high to foster investment.
"We are going to continue to need very strong pricing and we think oil-linked pricing makes sense for these buyers, given their alternatives, and that's what we strive for," he said.
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(so we have iron ore,coal,and lng all praying for high costs to remain now that these people have spent too much on overpriced australian investments.they have their nuts in a vice.the rest of the world sees this as an advantage for their product.these prices cannot be sustained,the importers will see to it,their survival depends on it.but then watson and those like him are thinking about their survival,remember the rio and bhp bosses?)
Part of Shells worldwide push to expand LNG as a transport fuel.
ReplyDeleteIN an Australian first, energy giant Royal Dutch Shell will develop a liquefied natural gas supply chain for trucks along the Hume Highway, with a guarantee to provide a cheaper and cleaner-burning fuel alternative to diesel.
Targeting the nation's busiest truck route, the oil major plans to this year and next install eight LNG refuelling ports at existing truck stops along the 900km road between Melbourne and Sydney, establishing it as a "green corridor" transport route.
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Gate locked as $100m CSG project stopped
A $100 MILLION coal-seam gas program has been mothballed and workers laid off in response to rising uncertainty about state and federal environmental regulation.
The freeze on Metgasco operations in northern NSW was welcomed as a victory by anti-CSG protesters who have mobilised intense local opposition. But industry figures said CSG had become hostage to green politics ahead of the federal election.
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(what they mean is : we cannot learn from the mistakes of others and apply caution because of our lust for profits above all else.)
Chaney to sue Barnett,agrees,he is a nuisance!
ReplyDeleteMargaret River bushfire victims, including prominent businessman Michael Chaney, have launched Supreme Court action against the State Government in a bid for damages that could run into millions of dollars.
The writ, filed last week, has been lodged on behalf of 41 plaintiffs and names the State of WA and Department of Environment and Conservation as defendants.
It says the property owners are claiming damages for "nuisance" and "negligence" that resulted in damage to their property in the fires that escaped from a prescribed burn known as BS520 near Margaret River on or about November 23, 2011.
No further details of the claim have been attached to the writ but it is expected that the lawsuit is likely to involve millions of dollars.
The November 2011 fire destroyed 32 homes and nine chalets and damaged another 16 properties.
The heritage-listed, multimillion-dollar Wallcliffe House on the banks of Margaret River, owned by Mr Chaney and his former wife Rose, was among the properties gutted.