Shares in oil and gas company Woodside Petroleum (WPL) rose as much as 4% to $48.80 on Friday after the company said it signed an LNG agreement with Taiwan's CPC Corporation.
The agreement is for the potential sale of two to three million tonnes per annum of liquefied natural gas (LNG) for a period of 15 to 20 years. The gas will come from the Woodside-operated Browse LNG Development.
Supply from the Browse LNG Development is targeted to commence between 2013 and 2015.
The Browse LNG Development is located 400km north-west of Broome in which Woodside has approximately 50% equity.
"The Browse Project joint venturers have not been party to the agreement to this point, however the agreement provides the opportunity for commingled sales," the company said.
Woodside's partners in the Browse project are BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron and Shell.
Woodside chief executive Don Voelte said the agreement recognised the quality of Woodside's Australian LNG portfolio and emphasised the company's position as an LNG supplier of choice in the Asia-Pacific region.
CPC is the dominant player in all sectors of Taiwan's oil and gas industry, with Taiwan currently the third largest LNG market in the Asia Pacific region behind Japan and South Korea.
The company also reported today that production has commenced at its joint venture Stybarrow Oil Project.
Oil will be produced by a floating production storage and offloading facility, Stybarrow Venture, which is located about 65 kilometres north-west of Exmouth, Western Australia.
Joint venture participants are Woodside Energy Ltd (50%) and BHP Billiton (50% and operator).
Shares in the Perth-based company increased 3.4% at $48.47.
