Would'nt it be good if these guys were looking us...

Would'nt it be good if these guys were looking us over!!!


WOODSIDE Petroleum is eyeing a "number of opportunities" in the US as it looks to tap the shale gas boom there, exploiting the company's expertise in designing and operating gas processing facilities.
Chief executive Peter Coleman is also pushing to develop Perth as a technological centre for the international LNG industry, building on the concentration of expertise in the city given Western Australia's long history of involvement in LNG production.

In an interview for the Global Leaders Insights Series on Sky Business, Mr Coleman said that Woodside was considering stepping up its involvement in the US from its current exploration rights in the Gulf of Mexico and other fields.

"We know North America really well," he said. "A number of my leadership team have spent a considerable amount of time working in North America."

Mr Coleman said Woodside, which had been operating in the Gulf of Mexico since 1999, would be looking at downstream operations in the US gas market, possibly expanding in the area through joint ventures, as the US energy market had been turned on its head thanks to the extraordinary shale gas boom.

..."We do have a competitive advantage in the downstream part of it," Mr Coleman said. "We are still maturing the opportunities. It's too early to say how we would actually enter it, but we have a number of opportunities."

Mr Coleman said the prospect of the US exporting some of its gas could provide a chance for Woodside be involved in LNG export plants and trading.

"Will the US fundamentally change the world of LNG?" Mr Coleman said.

"No, it won't. Could it be a significant contributor? Yes, it could. Is there opportunity there for Woodside? Absolutely. And we just have to navigate our way through."

Mr Coleman has moved to expand Woodside's international operations since taking over the top job in May last year, including looking at new opportunities in Myanmar and the Mediterranean Sea.

He said that Perth also had the opportunity to expand as a centre of technology for LNG.

"There's probably no other place in the world with such a concentration of engineers and technologists and people who operate facilities than in Perth," he said.

"And if you look at the diversity of the companies in the operations now coming to Perth, that says Woodside should really be a hub . . . lending support to that knowledge and those services globally."

Mr Coleman said Woodside already had 1000 technologists working for the company.

"The key is to make sure that guys like me don't drive technology innovation -- my role is to create an environment of innovation."

His comments come as Australian-born Andrew Liveris, chief executive of US-based Dow Chemical group, yesterday hit out at oil and gas companies for gaining an unfair advantage from Australia's policy of not restricting gas exports.

In an interview with the ABC's Inside Business program yesterday, Mr Liveris said that Australia should follow the US example of developing a domestic gas industry. This would help provide lower-cost energy to local industry, he said.
The US restricts exports of gas, requiring it to be marketed at a lower price to help provide cheaper fuel for domestic industries, including manufacturing industries.

"We're letting a few oil and gas companies benefit while the rest of the country doesn't see the benefit," Mr Liveris said.

He said that Australia needed to develop a domestic gas industry like the US, Canada and Israel.

"If you build the infrastructure -- the private sector can do it and allow shared pipelines -- you will get a domestic system and a pricing system that defies the oil-gas parity pricing that countries like Australia should never have."

Mr Liveris said the development of the US shale gas industry was a "gift from heaven" which had given the US economy a "big tailwind".

The federal government has resisted calls to reserve Australian gas for domestic use.

Mr Coleman said Australian gas needed to go "where it is best placed".

"A domestic market doesn't bring quite the same amount of capital that is required for an LNG export market."

Mr Liveris said any government policies should not "inadvertently set up subsidies", which he said caused "inefficient business models".



http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/in-depth/woodside-to-tap-us-shale-gas-boom-as-ceo-coleman-pushes-to-build-perth-as-hub/story-fng98pl5-1226528478584