Woodside gas find may spur Pluto plan  

The SMH reports that Woodside have discovered more natural gas on Australia's north west shelf - Woodside gas find may spur Pluto plan.

Many analysts had expected Woodside would miss its target timeline of sanctioning the second-train expansion of the Pluto liquefied natural gas (LNG) project by the end of 2010, as mixed exploration success raised doubts it would find the required gas reserves to underpin the expansion.

The latest gas discovery could put Pluto's swift expansion plans back on the table and Woodside shares rose as much as 2 per cent in early trade, outperforming a broader market that was down 1.1 percent.

"Initial analysis of drilling fluids suggests the gas could be comparatively liquids rich, but this requires confirmation by further analysis," Woodside said of its Alaric-1 well, which intersected about 185 metres of gas.

It will proceed to conduct further testing to confirm the full depth of the gas column and the quality of the gas.

Woodside, which is due to report first-half earnings on Wednesday, is rushing to complete Pluto's first train, which is expected to cost A13 billion and scheduled to start LNG production of 4.3 million tonnes per annum (mtpa) in late 2010.

The addition of a second train, which will have an output of about 4 mtpa, would greatly improve Pluto's economics and allow Woodside to roll over its current workforce, which is expected to be in shortage over the coming years amid a raft of other LNG projects.