SYDNEY, Dec 16 (Reuters) - Woodside Petroleum Ltd said on Tuesday it was postponing an investment decision onwhether to proceed with development of the Browse floatingliquefied natural gas project off the coast of Australia due tolow oil prices.
Australia's top oil and gas producer had expected to make afinal investment decision on the joint venture project,estimated by analysts to cost up to $40 billion, in mid 2015 butit has now postponed that decision to mid 2016.
Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman said the companywould seek to use the 40 percent slide in oil prices so far thisyear to lower construction costs.
"The changes we are experiencing in our industry arestarting to flow through our supply chain," Coleman said. "Wewill use the time we now have to maximise long-term economicbenefits for the development."
Woodside last year pulled plans to build processingfacilities onshore, opting to study a cheaper floating facilityconcept using partner Royal Dutch Shell's Prelude FLNGplant as a model.
Woodside, which competes with companies like AnadarkoPetroleum, BG, ConocoPhillips andNorway's Statoil, is also making a push into exploration,hunting in unexplored basins and building up oil reserves tobalance its strong gas reserves.
Earlier on Tuesday, Apache Corp said it would sellits stakes in two LNG projects, Wheatstone LNG in Australia andKitimat LNG in Canada, to Woodside for $2.75billion. (Reporting by James Regan; Editing by Ed Davies)
