BHP avoids US LNG rush
BHP Billiton's big acreage position in four of America's most prospective shales has not tempted the resources giant to join the US LNG push.
BHP petroleum president Tim Cutt said the company was confident about and supportive of the fledgling US LNG industry but not interested in joining the fast-growing throng of proponents.
"We're going to stay in the upstream," he said during a discussion about his division.
"We view (LNG) more as a midstream-type business. There are companies that are probably better at that than we would be, and so our job is to develop (the) gas, make sure it gets to these plants."
Mr Cutt's comments are interesting because BHP has a rich history in LNG - as one of the foundation partners of the North West Shelf near Karratha - and is pursuing a floating LNG concept for the big but costly Scarborough field off the Pilbara.
It also has major exploration hopes for its acreage off Trinidad and Tobago, where it operates the Angostura oil and gas venture.
BHP is one of the biggest acreage holders in the Eagle Ford and Permian (Texas), Fayetteville (Arkansas) and Haynesville (Louisiana) shales, producing 108 million barrels of oil and gas last year. Like its peers, BHP has been forced to prioritise liquids output because of the low US gas price.
The weak price has triggered a flood of proponents applying for export licences, wanting to use the cheap local gas to undercut LNG supplies from traditional producers such as Australia.
The shale revolution has also moved north of the border into Canada, where Woodside Petroleum has joined the rush to develop LNG plants.
