The Hindu Business Line : Australian LNG cos see potential market here

The Australian Government has plans to fund a study of the Indian gas market with a view to identifying opportunities for future trade and investment between India and Australia.

This was announced here by Mr Ian Macfarlane, Australian Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources.

Addressing a seminar on `Investment opportunities in Australian Mineral Resources', coinciding with the India Mining Summit (IMME-2006), Mr Macfarlane said while current Australian LNG projects were fully committed, LNG companies in Australia see India as a market with considerable potential.

He said that Australia had substantial natural gas resources, more than enough to expand LNG exports from the current annual output of 16 million tonnes per annum to more than 60 million tonnes per annum within the next decade.

This apart, the country had 40 highly prospective petroleum basins, most of which were under-explored and had strong prospects for future discoveries of both liquids and gas.

The Australian Government actively supported its offshore petroleum exploration sector.

Mr Macfarlane said he would like to see the number of Indian exploration companies in Australia increase.

He has invited more Indian explorers to participate in the forthcoming offshore exploration bidding in April 2007 at the APPEA Conference to be held in Adelaide, South Australia.

Uranium oxide

Although Australia was the second largest uranium oxide producer after Canada with a record about 11,200 tonnes in production in 2005, it has a long-standing policy of only selling uranium to countries that are party to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty.

India current was not a signatory to the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty and as the Australian Government has no current intention of changing its policy, Australia is unable to supply India with its uranium, he clarified.

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