While Woodside CEO Peter Coleman said this morning that the type of collaboration with GE was key to developing the LNG fuel market in WA, Utsler predicted further collaboration would be seen to ensure LNG's competitiveness in the energy mix of a carbon-conscious world.

 

"The agreement between our companies will harness the combined experience and offerings of Woodside and GE, allowing customers to choose LNG as a fuel that will deliver significant cost and emissions reductions," Coleman said this morning in a statement.

 

"Woodside is ideally placed to lead the transition to LNG fuelling, with world-class LNG facilities in the Pilbara in close proximity to heavy industries," he said. 

 

GE Oil & Gas ANZ/PNG regional director Mary Hackett said there was a "pressing opportunity" to develop the LNG fuel market as a transition fuel that provides an alternate, cleaner fuel source. 

 

"Businesses are continually under pressure to seek and adopt solutions that reduce their emissions footprint, while decreasing costs. LNG is a fuel source that is sustainable and cost effective," Hackett said this morning. 

 

"Developing new fuel technology to power industries such as marine, transportation and mining is key - and as a digital industrial company that works across multiple industries and sectors, GE looks forward to working with Woodside to deliver gas technology solutions for customers."

 

While a Woodside spokesperson told Energy News this morning that the GE announcement would involve LNG supplied from the new transport infrastructure that the company was planning to develop at Pluto, it was separate to last week's announcements of plans for debottleknecking and studying the potential for small train expansions.

 

Woodside flagged the expansion of the Pluto plant during its full-year 2016 earnings call last week, which Utsler said would be used for its small-scale LNG ambitions for WA.

 

"It could be as that [domestic LNG as fuel in the mining sector] market grows, but actually we'll just take off of the total liquefaction capacity," Utsler told Energy News at the Australian Oil & Gas Expo last Friday.

 

Having created available LNG truck-loading facilities, there was also the potential to bunker direct to a vessel. 

 

Woodside christened the southern hemisphere's first dual-fuelled production support vessel earlier this month in Fremantle, another related avenue for growth on the LNG demand side.

 

"That's why we're excited about the joint industry with the miners," Utsler said, referring to the agreement announced last month to work with Australian iron ore giants Fortescue Metals Group, BHP Billiton and Rio Tinto to study fuelling iron ore ships with LNG.

 

He said the bunkering plans would help build a new market opportunity while addressing public perception of industry doing something about its climate impact and influence.

 

"I honestly believe that we are in an era where we will compete for buyers, but we will collaborate for cost competitiveness, because we're not just competing for my LNG molecule versus your LNG molecules," Utsler said. 

 

"We're competing for LNG as a viable solution for power generation against coal, renewables and the multitude of other options - and we're doing it on a regional basis. 

 

"Gulf of Mexico is setting the lowest cost per tonne into the market place supplies. We have to compete against that, and that [broader oil and gas sector] has to compete against coal which will continue to be an important part of the energy solution.

 

"We're seeing evidence of, and you'll see more of, collaboration on enabling the ability of our product [LNG] to compete for market place then we will compete with each other to capture that market."

 

He said there was an incentivised view that "all of us win if we can make ourselves competitive".