Australian Natural Gas Company Still Under Evaluation

by Rob McKay — last modified Mar 16, 2010 12:19 PM

Uncertainty has begun to hover over the Gladstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal project, with the possibility raised today of other firms gaining involvement and the expiry of the Golar LNG sale and purchase heads of agreement (HOA) for export of the gas.

With the direction of the Shell/PetroChina bid for parts of Arrow Energy unclear, it and joint venture partner Liquefied Natural Gas Ltd have extended to June 30 an HOA on the sale of the project to Arrow.

"The non-exclusive nature of the Arrow HOA extension means that the company can freely explore all gas supply opportunities and project structure options with other parties, some of whom have previously expressed interest in the Gladstone LNG Project," LNG Ltd said.

However, work on the project remained on hold in favour of LNG Ltd's ownership and opportunities review process.

On Golar LNG, LNG Ltd said it would continue to work with the gas tanker firm "in relation to the identification and pursuit of mid scale LNG project opportunities". 

The Western Australian firm currently retains ownership and is confident in its advanced state, given that "all key environmental, development and license approvals have either been received, or are expected to be received, within the next four weeks".