By Angela Macdonald-Smith
Feb. 15 (Bloomberg) — Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, said an “unprecedented tightness” in the liquefied natural gas market is boosting costs and making it more difficult to develop projects on schedule.
Global trade in LNG may reach 370 million metric tons by 2015 from about 145 million in 2005, “nearly trebling in only 10 years,” Don Voelte, managing director of Perth-based Woodside, said in a speech delivered in Houston. Worldwide LNG demand could outstrip supply by as much as 20 million tons a year in 2008-2015, he said.
Woodside, operator of the North West Shelf LNG venture, is developing the Pluto LNG project, also in Western Australia, which it aims to build in a world-record time of less than six years from discovery of the gas to the start of production. The project may cost as much as A$10 billion ($7.8 billion), Voelte said in November, double the state government’s earlier estimate.
“LNG markets are seeing unprecedented growth,” Voelte said in the speech, a copy of which was lodged today with the Australian Stock Exchange. “As suppliers seek to meet this increasing LNG demand, the scarcity of human and material resources has contributed to rising costs and challenges in delivering new projects on time.”
LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form, reducing it to one-six-hundredth of its original volume, for delivery to destinations not connected by pipeline. On arrival it is turned back into gaseous form, for delivery to users such as power stations, factories and households.
Long-Term Contracts
The increased risk of building projects means long-term LNG sales contracts will probably become more important, in contrast to the predictions of some commentators that the market will soon be dominated by more flexible contracts, short-term trading and small-scale projects, Voelte said.
“Long-term contracts with less flexibility on issues such as percentage of take-or-pay volumes may be essential for new, large projects to come on line in time to satisfy demand,” Voelte said. “In today’s uncertain times, customers may agree to restricted flexibility in individual contracts to encourage development of more numerous and diverse supply sources.”
To contact the reporter on this story: Angela Macdonald-Smith in Sydney at [email protected] .
Last Updated: February 15, 2007 02:04 EST
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Royal Dutch Shell conspired directly with Hitler, financed the Nazi Party, was anti-Semitic and sold out its own Dutch Jewish employees to the Nazis. Shell had a close relationship with the Nazis during and after the reign of Sir Henri Deterding, an ardent Nazi, and the founder and decades long leader of the Royal Dutch Shell Group. His burial ceremony, which had all the trappings of a state funeral, was held at his private estate in Mecklenburg, Germany. The spectacle (photographs below) included a funeral procession led by a horse drawn funeral hearse with senior Nazis officials and senior Royal Dutch Shell directors in attendance, Nazi salutes at the graveside, swastika banners on display and wreaths and personal tributes from Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall, Hermann Goring. Deterding was an honored associate and supporter of Hitler and a personal friend of Goring.
Deterding was the guest of Hitler during a four day summit meeting at Berchtesgaden. Sir Henri and Hitler both had ambitions on Russian oil fields. Only an honored personal guest would be rewarded with a private four day meeting at Hitler’s mountain top retreat.
IN JULY 2007, MR BILL CAMPBELL (ABOVE, A RETIRED GROUP AUDITOR OF SHELL INTERNATIONAL SENT AN EMAIL TO EVERY UK MP AND MEMBER OF THE HOUSE OF LORDS: 
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A head-cut image of Alfred Donovan (now deceased) appears courtesy of The Wall Street Journal.
