Six offshore regasification projects: Kelliher told The Australian some spot cargoes of Australian LNG had been delivered to the US Gulf coast, and it was expected Australian LNG would be shipped in the future through a plant in Baja California. "There are five onshore (regasification) projects on the Pacific Coast of the US and there are six offshore projects and there’s a chance that some of these will be developed," Kelliher said.
Existing terminals take spot cargoes: The two existing US LNG receival terminals operated differently, ranging from being supplied under long-term contract to taking spot cargoes from any supplies when required.
But long-term arrangements needed: The lessons from the hurricanes were that it was good for the US to make long-term arrangements for gas supply and to not rely too heavily on spot shipments of LNG, and it was probably inevitable that the LNG market would become similar to the oil market with shipments being sold in transit.
BHP, Woodside proposals in place: Slutz said the US wanted both spot cargoes and long-term contracts to gain efficiencies. Both BHP Billiton and Woodside have proposals before Californian authorities for offshore LNG receival facilities but neither has LNG liquefaction facilities in place to supply those facilities.
The Australian, 1/9/2006, p.24