Mission Will Seek Suppliers of LNG

U.S. Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham will visit Australia this week for talks on liquefied natural gas exports to the U.S. West Coast, the Australian government said.

Abraham will be in Sydney and Melbourne for meetings with energy companies and industry groups, said Kirsty Boazman, a spokeswoman for Australian Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane.

Demand for natural gas in the U.S. is outpacing domestic production and companies are seeking to import LNG, which is gas cooled and compressed to liquid form and transported by tanker. U.S. capacity for LNG will increase 40% by 2007, Abraham said in December during a government-sponsored LNG summit attended by ministers from 24 countries.

ChevronTexaco Corp.’s proposed $8.6 billion Gorgon venture and the Woodside Petroleum Ltd.-operated North West Shelf venture -- Australia’s only operating LNG producer -- are seeking gas customers in the U.S.

The Gorgon venture, in which Royal Dutch/Shell Group and Exxon Mobil Corp. own stakes, signed two initial agreements last August to deliver LNG that may be worth more than $13 billion to West Coast import terminals proposed by ChevronTexaco and Shell. Australian projects are vying with projects in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Middle East and Russia to win sales.