Woodside has unveiled an aggressive expansion strategy aimed at
cementing the North-West Shelf as one of the major players in the
booming global market for liquefied natural gas, reports Barry Fitzgerald in The Smage. Central
to the group’s push is a planned $5 billion development
of Woodside’s recently discovered and wholly owned Pluto discovery,
190km north-west of Karratha. The surprise announcement of the plan
to fast-track the development of a gas field it discovered only in
April is a fascinating mix of economics and industry politics, says Stephen Bartholomeusz in The Smage. If the plan proceeds as outlined, Woodside would have a field discovered four
months ago selling gas into the market by 2010 – a remarkably
condensed timetable in an industry where developments often take
decades.

And The Australian reports that the resources boom will continue for at least
the next five years. Even so, there’s growing concern that Australia is not
doing enough exploration to make the most of that outlook, according to
predictions at the annual Diggers and Dealers conference.

Also in The Oz, the spate of profit warnings should have little
effect on the market, with the ASX 200 still expecting to record
combined earnings of $48 billion this year, a 22% increase,
according to an analysis by the Reserve Bank of Australia.

Meanwhile, the RBA has dropped any plans to raise interest rates in the short
term, arguing that the economy has slowed to a reasonable though not
excessive pace and inflation is under control, reports the Fin Review.
But while the RBA may have switched its policy rhetoric to neutral, the
next move in interest rates is still more likely to be up than down,
says Alan Mitchell in the AFR.

On Wall Street, US stocks fell to their lowest close in a month
overnight
amid fresh concerns about the impact of rising energy costs, as crude
futures jumped above $63 a barrel for the first time. The Dow Jones
closed down 21 points at 10,536 – MarketWatch has a full report here.