Exxon to Decide on Scarborough Gas Field Next Year

ExxonMobil Corp expects to make a decision on how to develop the Scarborough gas field, considered one of the toughest projects in Western Australia, around the second half of 2013, its Australian chairman said on Thursday.

The field, which is half owned by BHP Billiton, lies some 280 kms offshore, making it an expensive prospect to develop, which could be difficult to justify at a time when abundant gas supplies in the United States could start flowing into Asia, Reuters said in a report.

'The challenge of Scarborough is finding a solution that's viable given the challenged nature of the resource,' ExxonMobil Australia chairman John Dashwood told reporters after speaking at a business function, the Reuters report added.

The partners are evaluating a range of options including supplying gas to other companies' LNG plants or building a floating LNG platform, Dashwood said. He further added that any new LNG project would have to be weighed up against potential exports out of the U.S., where ExxonMobil is the biggest gas producer.