An official from South Korean gas giant confirmed Korean Gas Corporation (Kogas) will buy 500,000 tonnes of liquefied natural gas annually from the NWS for at least seven years under an accord to be signed in Perth today.
"We are to exchange letters of intent for the mid-term LNG supply deal with the North West Shelf on Friday for the supply of 500,000 tonnes a year," a Kogas official said.
The deal is the Shelf's first major supply deal with South Korea, the world's second biggest importer of LNG after Japan.
News of the deal came as Woodside yesterday revealed output fell by more than two million barrels in 2002, with even greater declines expected next year. As a result, Woodside's share price dropped 5c to finish at $12.25.
Woodside said sales fell to $554.6 million from $587.1 million a year earlier, taking full-year revenue to $2.24 billion, down from $2.39 billion in 2001.
Total production for the year fell to 64.2 million barrels of oil equivalent, from 66.3 million barrels in 2001.
Last year's profit was $910 million and analysts have already predicted a $770 million fall in earnings this year because of Woodside's adoption of US accounting standards.
Analysts put the result down to the previously flagged fall in oil production from the Laminaria and Legendre oilfield and lower output from the Cossack field off Western Australia after a 10-day shutdown.
In addition, the company failed to benefit from high international oil and gas prices at the end of last year with sales of oil, gas and LNG falling to $554.6 million in the three months to December from $587.1 million a year earlier.
