BHP Billiton: Aussie gas project put on back burner

BHP BILLITON is lowering the priority of its Scarborough liquefied natural gas (LNG) project with Exxon Mobil in Australia amid a fall in prices and increasing competition from the US. “LNG prices are down quite a bit from last year,” Tim Cutt, BHP’s petroleum president, told reporters yesterday in Melbourne. The project “falls a bit lower” on the list of opportunities, he said. A plunge in oil has forced companies to cut or delay spending on projects that supply super-cooled gas linked to the price of crude. In September, Cutt said that he backed plans to develop what could become the world’s largest floating LNG project and that BHP was aligned with partner Exxon. – Bloomberg