LNG firms form consortium

LNG firms form consortium

PERTH (Dow Jones): Australia's liquefied natural gas producers said Monday they have formed a consortium to market new LNG products to Asian buyers.

The new venture was formally launched by BP-Amoco (BPA), Chevron Corp. (CHV), Royal Dutch/Shell Group (RD), Australia's Broken Hill Proprietary Co. (BHP) and Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (A.WPL).

The companies said the consortium, to be called Australia LNG, will provide a vehicle for Australia to capture new business from the growing number of LNG customers in the region.

The consortium won't be targeting Japan, however. Japanese customers are already handled by North West Shelf LNG operations, which groups Australia's LNG producers with Japan Australia LNG (MIMI), an equal joint venture between Japan's Mitsubishi Corp.