By Oleg Vukmanovic
PARIS, June 4 (Reuters) - Australia's Woodside Petroleum is expanding its liquefied natural gas (LNG) businessand aims to build a global supply network ahead of an expectedsurge in trading of the fuel, its chief executive said in aninterview.
Peter Coleman said Woodside's latest venture with U.S.-basedSempra, announced on Wednesday, to potentially build fromscratch an LNG export plant in the United States at Port Arthurwas the latest signal of its intention.
"What our strategy is: focus on Asia customers, but sourcingLNG globally," and not just from the company's existingAustralian producing plants, he said on the sidelines of anindustry conference in Paris.
Sources close to the matter say the strategy could takeadvantage of any disruption at BG Group, a heavyweight inLNG trading which analysts think could lose some of itsflexibility following its takeover by oil giant Shell.
"We see an opportunity in the marketplace at the moment fora company like Woodside to differentiate," Coleman said.
The world's biggest LNG buyers in Asia have shown a strongappetite for United States-sourced supply due to its linkage todomestic Henry Hub gas prices, some of the world's cheapest.
A shale gas-drilling boom brought U.S. futures prices downto decade-low levels, providing a cheap feedstock for LNG exportplants. In contrast, LNG supply sourced from Australia is linkedto a more expensive basket of crude oil grades.
"For us we see a real opportunity in the marketplace whereWoodside can position itself, we want to be seller of choice toour buyers, but to do that we need to offer options," Colemansaid.
The Sempra deal follows Woodside's agreement to buy LNGsupply from Cheniere's planned Corpus Christi export plant onthe U.S. Gulf Coast. Last year, it also paid $3.7 billion to buystakes in Canada's Kitimat LNG and Australia's Wheatstoneprojects.
"The Port Arthur deal (with Sempra) extends the Corpusarrangement where we are a buyer, to actually one step upstreamwhere together we can add our value as Woodside," Coleman said.
"What that does is it allows us to bring to our customeroptionality with respect to the LNG's pricing point, and alsoits geography and distance from markets." (Editing by Mark Potter)
