PERTH (miningweekly.com) − Australian oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum on Friday confirmed that it was “assessing the potential sale” of a minority portion of its equity in the Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project, off the coast of Western Australia.

Responding to media speculation, Woodside said that it had not made any decisions to reduce its equity in the proposed development, at this time.

“In response to significant interest from a number of parties, Woodside is conducting a limited process to assess the potential sale of a minority portion of the company’s equity in the development,” the miner said.

It added that the process provided an opportunity to assess possible early value realisation at Browse, adding that the approach was consistent with comments made by CEO Peter Coleman during the half-year results presentation, when he said that the company would strive to deliver value from LNG growth options over both the medium and longer term.

The Browse LNG project includes three gas fields estimated to contain a combined contingent resource of about 13.3-trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 360-million barrels of concentrate.

Woodside and its development partners were expected to take a final investment decision on the LNG project by mid-2012, with first gas expected by 2017.
 

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