By Jason Scott and Madelene Pearson
Feb. 11 (Bloomberg) -- Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett will meet Inpex Corp., Japan’s largest oil explorer, next week in a bid to win back a proposed $20 billion liquefied natural gas project from the neighboring Northern Territory.
“I’m trying to encourage Inpex to have a rethink,” Barnett said in an interview. “I’m going to Japan next week.”
Inpex picked Darwin to build the plant as Western Australia didn’t have a site, and the Japanese company’s proposal of the Maret Islands off the state drew opposition from environmental groups. Inpex and partner Total SA will decide whether to build the Ichthys project late in 2009 or early 2010.
The plant in Darwin would be about 800 kilometers (500 miles) from the offshore gas site. Barnett in December announced plans to build a liquefied natural gas production hub at James Price Point, less than half that distance, in the state’s far northwest Kimberley region.
“We believe they would save in the order of A$1 billion by bringing their LNG to James Price Point rather than Darwin,” Barnett said in Perth yesterday.
To contact the reporter on this story: Jason Scott in Perth at Jscott14@bloomberg.net; To contact the reporter on this story: Madelene Pearson in Melbourne on mpearson1@bloomberg.net
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