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Gold/Mining/Energy : KOB.TO - East Lost Hills & GSJB joint venture -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: russet who wrote (14652)	3/9/2001 5:51:11 PM
From: davo	Respond to of 15703

Some Australian/East Timorese competition for ELH. From The Weekend Australian news.com.au City bags billions in export gas deal By NIGEL WILSON 10mar01 DARWIN is in line for a massive economic shot in the arm thanks to plans for a huge production plant to process natural gas for the US market. Phillips Petroleum, the sixth-largest US oil company, has signed letters of intent to supply 4.8 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year to America's third-largest natural gas supplier, El Paso Energy. The total project investment involving the Darwin processing plant, a regasification facility on the US west coast and shipping tankers is likely to be around $7 billion ($13.73 billion). The Darwin plant alone, on a site at Wickham Point opposite the city, is estimated to cost about $3 billion. The project will provide up to 1500 jobs in the construction phase, but Phillips believes that because of the stimulus it will give to domestic gas production about 12,000 permanent positions will be created. Sales contracts are expected be signed before mid-year with shipments beginning in 2005. Northern Territory Chief Minister Denis Burke said the announcement was magnificent news. "The important thing for me is that it's the last piece of the jigsaw that the Northern Territory needed," Mr Burke said. "It's always had proximity to South-East Asia, but it's been isolated because of poor transportation and high energy costs to attract industry. "Now, through the gas fields, not only do you have enormous economic development in the construction phase and a long-term economic base, you actually get low energy costs. "It will be a new Perth. What Phillips have secured now is what they had when they started the North West Shelf. It's big stuff." Federal Resources Minister Nick Minchin said construction of the LNG plant and pipelines to Darwin would bring many billions of dollars of benefits to Australia. "I don't think it would be an overstatement to say that we are looking at Darwin becoming a new major hub for gas development in Australia," Senator Minchin said. While contract details are confidential, the El Paso deal is expected to be worth more than $20 billion over a minimum of two decades. It is believed to equal the biggest single LNG contract ever negotiated and is easily Australia's largest individual resources deal. In an agreement that represents Australia's first significant foray into the American energy market, the gas will be shipped to the west coast of the US to supply El Paso's existing gas transmission system in California and Mexico. The contract will be supplied from Timor Sea reserves owned by Phillips and by Woodside and Shell, which last month announced agreement to co-operate in development plans. Woodside and Shell own one-sixth of the North West Shelf gas project that exports more than 7 million tonnes of LNG to Japan each year. The announcement will put further pressure on the federal Government as it assesses the national interest in a $10 billion takeover offer for Australian-owned Woodside from the giant transnational Royal Dutch/Shell.