Australia’s top energy firm Woodside Energy sees an opportunity to beef up LNG sales to Japan, including supply from the United States, where the company just bought Tellurian and its LNG export project, CEO Meg O’Neill said on Monday.
With this new position in the U.S., Woodside will be able to “offer our Japanese buyers even more supply for the long term”, O’Neill said at a media briefing on the sidelines of the Singapore International Energy Week conference.
Japanese LNG importers have been saying they are looking for shorter term LNG contracts with more flexible terms as their demand outlook remains uncertain. Several Japanese importers also have contracts with Russia’s Sakhalin LNG that will expire from 2026 onwards.
As part of LNG Japan’s entry into Woodside’s Scarborough joint venture in Australia, there is a memorandum of understanding for additional LNG offtake with the consortium, O’Neill said, adding that those discussions are under way.
“So we know Japan is thinking very carefully about how to get the balance right in energy security, and we look forward to being a reliable supplier to Japan,” she said.
Woodside’s current focus is on bringing in partners to invest in the Louisiana LNG project rather than marketing its LNG, O’Neill said.
It wants to sell 50% of the project and aims to be ready for a final investment decision from the first quarter of 2025.
(Reporting by Siyi Liu and Haridas in Singapore, writing by Emily Chow; Editing by Florence Tan and Sonali Paul)