The Hindu Business Line : Reliance in talks with Woodside of Australia for oil, gas imports

AFTER GAIL's announcement that it is planning to invest $500 million in Australia's energy fields, it is now the turn of the largest domestic private sector energy company, Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL), to look at that country.

Reliance is in talks with Woodside Energy of Australia for import of oil and gas as well as for acquiring interest in Australian energy fields. The talks are in an advanced stage and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) is expected shortly, the Premier of Western Australia, Mr Geoff Gallop, who was on a state visit to India, told Business Line.

"Reliance and Woodside are having talks for a partnership and the Indian company is looking forward to having an interest in Western Australia for oil and gas. The company can import gas and take a stake in oil and gas fields in Australia. A memorandum of understanding will be signed between the two companies," Mr Geoff Gallop said before leaving for Australia on Monday.

Last week, Mr Gallop had a meeting with the Reliance Industries Chairman, Mr Mukesh Ambani, during his two-day stay in Mumbai.

Woodside is Australia's largest publicly traded oil and gas exploration and production company with a market capitalisation of more than A$19.5 billion as on June 2005.

Woodside operates the North West Shelf Venture (NWSV), Australia's largest resource project and the country's first and largest liquefied natural gas plant. It also operates more than 75 joint ventures on behalf of 39 participants in Australia, Africa, the US, West Asia and its major customer centres are in Japan, Korea, China and Singapore. The company sells liquefied natural gas, natural gas, crude oil, condensed and liquid petroleum gas around the world.

With proven-plus-probable reserves of more than 1.3 billion barrels of oil equivalent, Woodside produces nearly 60 million barrels of oil equivalent a year.

Woodside's main business is centred around the NWSV. Through NWSV and other ventures worldwide, Woodside operates yearly production of more than 200 million barrels of oil equivalent or about 600,000 barrels a day. Woodside's share of this is about 155,000 barrels a day.

Production is projected to grow to more than 100 million barrels a year by 2008.

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