Aussie, Chinese and British companies reach LNG deal

Deal boosts Australia’s LNG industry.

BG Group, one of the world’s largest LNG companies, and China National Offshore Oil Corporation have signed agreements in which CNOOC will acquire a greater interest in the first of two production trains of the Queensland Curtis LNG Project and a greater stake in upstream tenements.

QCLNG is on schedule to become the world’s first project to produce LNG from natural gas out of coal seams. The US$20.6 billion project is more than half complete.

BG Group said the agreement reaffirmed Australia as a leader in supplying cleaner hydrocarbon energy to global markets.

BG Group will supply CNOOC with an extra 5 million tonnes of LNG a year from 2015. CNOOC will also acquire a 20% interest in the reserves and resources of certain BG Group tenements in Queensland.