Sydney, 16 April,
In the big pissing game that is corporate business this is more of the same.... Comalco ain't going to go for a methane gas alternative. That would really be full of .... ie the
source of methane!
Comalco Ltd, unhappy at being pressured in the
high-stakes poker game over gas supplies to
Queensland, yesterday played a new hand by revealing it
had been negotiating to take gas from Queensland rather
than Papua New Guinea.
Speaking after the annual meeting in Brisbane, managing
director Mr Terry Palmer said Comalco could use coal
seam methane gas from Queensland for its proposed
$1.4 billion alumina refinery in Gladstone.
He said Comalco had held talks with Transfield Pty Ltd,
which is looking to exploit coal seam methane reserves in
central Queensland with Tri-Star Petroleum Company,
while the PNG project was at an apparent stalemate.
Although PNG gas was further advanced and remained
the front-runner if the plant proceeded in Queensland
rather than at the alternative site of Malaysia, coal seam
methane was an alternative.
"There's still a long way to go with coal seam methane
but it's exciting and it's in Queensland," Mr Palmer told a
news conference in Brisbane.
However, Comalco officials rejected a suggestion that
the company had signed a memorandum of understanding
with Transfield. Mr Palmer also described as
contradictory, statements by PNG Gas Project operator
Chevron Corp on Wednesday that customers no longer
had "rocks to hide behind" but that the project could
proceed without Comalco.
This followed news that sufficient reserves were available
to make the project viable after agreements were
reached to include most of the giant Hides field.
The Queensland Government kept pressure on Comalco
yesterday, saying it should negotiate a price and make a
commitment to Gladstone or proceed in Malaysia.
The project, which includes a $1.5 billion pipeline to
Queensland, was originally based on the Kutubu field in
PNG's highlands but this proved to be too small to
underwrite long-term contracts.
The agreement with Exxon will allow Oil Search Ltd,
which has interests in both fields, to join the Australian
Gas Light Co Ltd in a concerted marketing drive over the
next two to three months.
Mr Palmer said Comalco and the PNG suppliers were
less than 10 per cent apart on price but other issues to be
resolved included the PNG tax regime and Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission approval of
marketing plans.
Comalco officials have also queried the future role of
Chevron and asked which of the major companies in the
project, which also include Mobil Corp and Mitsubishi
Oil Co, would stand behind sales contracts if supply was
interrupted or a dispute broke out.
Oil Search, which is much smaller than some partners
and has few assets outside PNG, has cited confidentiality
as its reason for not elaborating on its agreement
whereby it will represent Exxon's share of the gas in
marketing talks.
"That's a matter of concern," Mr Palmer said. "There's
been some re-arrangement of the joint venture. I'm not
sure where the big companies sit."
A Chevron spokesman declined to comment. |
