Sydney Morning Herald: Woodside Petroleum Urges South Korea to Help on Browse LNG Sales, Costs

Woodside Petroleum is ramping up pressure on South Korea to sign up for liquefied natural gas from its proposed Browse floating project, emphasising it is in the nation's interests to see the project move ahead given the boost it would give to the economy and jobs.

Senior executives at Woodside including chief executive Peter Coleman are also directly pointing to South Korea's responsibility to help reduce costs at the project given the three huge vessels to be used would be built at a South Korean shipyard.

"We value Korea's support – both in terms of cost reductions and LNG purchases – in achieving a final investment decision," Reinhardt Matisons, Woodside executive vice president marketing, told South Korean business leaders on Friday.

The targeting of South Korea on Browse comes amid heightened uncertainty that Woodside and its partners will achieve their target of giving the go-ahead on the $US40 billion-plus project in the second half of 2016 because of depressed oil prices. MORE