By Alexander Cornwell and Dmitry Zhdannikov
ABU DHABI, Sept 10 (Reuters) - Australian oil and gasproducer Woodside is seeking to reduce its stakes inthe Scarborough gas field at home and in Canada's Kitimatliquefied natural gas (LNG) project to cut its capital exposure,its chief executive told Reuters on Tuesday.
The comments by CEO Peter Coleman came after speculationSaudi Aramco could be interested in Scarborough, a gas resourcethat, once developed, would feed into and expand Woodside'sPluto LNG production and export facility.
Woodside holds a 75% stake in the Scarborough gas field and50% of the Kitimat project in Canada, which is operated byChevron.
"We just look at that and say from a capital management andrisk management point of view we would rather hold less equity,"Coleman told Reuters. "It also helps us fund through this nextexpenditure cycle if we can reduce our capital requirement."
"In a major project where we are operating, we would like tobe between 40% and 60% equity. It kind of makes sense. Whenyou’re non-operator, anywhere between 20% and 40% is the rightnumber," he said.
Of Aramco's potential investment, he said it would be "nosecret" if the company were interested in projects in Australia,but did not elaborate further.
Woodside wants to take a final investment decision ondeveloping the $11 billion Scarborough field in 2020 but warnedlast month it was at the mercy of its partners to lock down someof its projects plans.
The company is in talks with its 25% partner BHP Groupon how much to charge for processing Scarborough gasthrough the Pluto LNG plant.
The gas from Scarborough could prompt the building of PlutoLNG II, a 4-5 million tonne a year (mtpa) facility.
Pluto produces 5 mtpa, contributing to Australia's LNGexports which vie for the top spot with Qatar, long the world'slargest LNG supplier.
In Canada, Chevron and Woodside are yet to propose a datefor a final investment decision on the Kitimat LNG project,having expanded its planned size to 18 mtpa in April.
Last year, Royal Dutch Shell began building its 14mtpa LNG Canada plant just 20 kilometres away from the Kitimatsite.(Reporting by Alex Cornwell and Dmitry Zhdannikov; Writing byNina Chestney and Sabina Zawadzki; Editing by Susan Fenton andJan Harvey)
