WHITE House officials are working to clear the final barriers to the sale of billions of dollars worth of Australian gas to the US by the end of the decade.
Speaking ahead of crucial talks in Sydney this week on climate change and energy markets, a senior Bush administration official said the US Government was keen to see Australian liquefied natural gas gain direct access to US customers for the first time.
Australian companies, such as BHP Billiton (bhp.ASX:Quote,News), have been lobbying for three years to win access to the US market, with John Howard personally raising the issue with US President George W.Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
However, concerns about the safety of LNG have delayed approval for a massive terminal off the coast of California that would transfer Australian gas from ships for sale in the US.
James Connaughton, Mr Bush's adviser on the environment, said at the weekend that the US Government was throwing its weight behind efforts to clear the way for the sale.
"Certainly, California is an abundant user of natural gas, however, the siting of these terminals raises the same kinds of questions as do other activities off the coast of our shores," he said, adding that he was hoping "to work through those".
Approval for the gas terminal - 20km offshore from Oxnard, about 100km north of Los Angeles - could have shipments of Australian LNG sent to the US market by the end of the decade.
Australian LNG, mostly from the giant fields off the coast of Western Australia, will feature in talks between the two countries at this week's inaugural Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate conference in Sydney.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pulled out of the meeting, citing the poor health of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. However, Mr Connaughton, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and undersecretary for global affairs Paula Dobriansky will attend.
In a separate Sydney meeting, Mr Bodman and Australian Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane will be joined on Thursday by industry and government representatives at the US-Australian energy exchange conference.
The White House has stressed it wants trade and private sector investment opportunities to feature strongly at the climate conference. Apart from Australia, the conference brings together the world's biggest economies and its biggest polluters - the US, Japan, South Korea, China and India - as inaugural partners in the new climate pact.
On Saturday, The Weekend Australian revealed that the Prime Minister was considering a $100 million injection to kick-start the adoption of clean energy technologies - a focus of the climate partnership.
"Natural gas is one of the cleaner of the fossil energy sources currently and so natural gas is an important and vital part of each of the six countries' energy security needs," Mr Connaughton said.
"Having LNG as an opportunity in the US enhances our energy security because it promotes a diversity of potential future supply so we're not reliant on one particular area."
Asked if exporting Australian LNG was one of the trade opportunities that could emerge from the conference, Mr Connaughton said Australia was "a great provider of natural gas".
"We have a dedicated commitment to opening up the opportunity for a lot more LNG to America," he said.
Amid soaring energy costs for home heating in the US and predictions that within two years demand for energy in California - a bigger economy than China - will outstrip supply, the Bush administration is eyeing new and clean energy sources.
Australian LNG sales to date have been focused on markets in Japan, Korea and China, which in 2002 signed a $25 billion deal to buy gas from the Northwest Shelf, off the coast of Western Australia - Australia's biggest single export deal.
However, global petroleum giant Shell, one of the partners in the undeveloped $11 billion Gorgon gas project off Western Australia, plans to sell Australian gas to North America through a "receiving" terminal in Mexico.
BHP, which owns the Scarborough gas field off Western Australia, wants to sell its LNG directly to the US through the new gas terminal off the Californian coast. Approval for the terminal has been mired in regulatory hurdles.
But Australia's prospects of securing long-term gas supply contracts in California were buoyed last week when Mr Schwarzenegger announced a huge infrastructure program in his "state of the state" address.
"Our systems are at the breaking point now," he said. "We need more roads, more hospitals, more schools, more nurses, more teachers, more police, more fire, more water, more energy, more ports."
Each year, the US consumes the equivalent of all Northwest Shelf gas reserves and growth in energy consumption is forecast to be about 1.5 per cent a year.
Since the mid-1990s, imports of LNG to the US have been rising fast. But the American share of world LNG demand is still only about 8 per cent - against Japan, which consumes about half of the world's LNG.
"California's population is expected to increase by as much as 30 per cent over the next 20 years," Mr Schwarzenegger said. "That is the equivalent of adding three new cities the size of Los Angeles."
Australia's consul-general in Los Angeles, former South Australian premier John Olsen, welcomed Mr Connaughton's comments and said Australia was a step closer to winning gas contracts in the US.
"(His comments) identify Australia as a reliable and identifiable source of LNG," Mr Olsen said. "The US has the potential to be a long-term customer of Australian LNG similar to that of China and Japan."
Mr Connaughton said the US was hoping the Sydney meeting would "create new opportunities for trade and investment".
"Importantly, this is a two-way street. This is us providing information, opportunity, looking for opportunities in countries like China, South Korea, India. By the same token, we will be looking for investment back here in the United States."
Speaking ahead of crucial talks in Sydney this week on climate change and energy markets, a senior Bush administration official said the US Government was keen to see Australian liquefied natural gas gain direct access to US customers for the first time.
Australian companies, such as BHP Billiton (bhp.ASX:Quote,News), have been lobbying for three years to win access to the US market, with John Howard personally raising the issue with US President George W.Bush and California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
However, concerns about the safety of LNG have delayed approval for a massive terminal off the coast of California that would transfer Australian gas from ships for sale in the US.
James Connaughton, Mr Bush's adviser on the environment, said at the weekend that the US Government was throwing its weight behind efforts to clear the way for the sale.
"Certainly, California is an abundant user of natural gas, however, the siting of these terminals raises the same kinds of questions as do other activities off the coast of our shores," he said, adding that he was hoping "to work through those".
Approval for the gas terminal - 20km offshore from Oxnard, about 100km north of Los Angeles - could have shipments of Australian LNG sent to the US market by the end of the decade.
Australian LNG, mostly from the giant fields off the coast of Western Australia, will feature in talks between the two countries at this week's inaugural Asia-Pacific Partnership on Clean Development and Climate conference in Sydney.
US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has pulled out of the meeting, citing the poor health of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. However, Mr Connaughton, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman and undersecretary for global affairs Paula Dobriansky will attend.
In a separate Sydney meeting, Mr Bodman and Australian Resources Minister Ian Macfarlane will be joined on Thursday by industry and government representatives at the US-Australian energy exchange conference.
The White House has stressed it wants trade and private sector investment opportunities to feature strongly at the climate conference. Apart from Australia, the conference brings together the world's biggest economies and its biggest polluters - the US, Japan, South Korea, China and India - as inaugural partners in the new climate pact.
On Saturday, The Weekend Australian revealed that the Prime Minister was considering a $100 million injection to kick-start the adoption of clean energy technologies - a focus of the climate partnership.
"Natural gas is one of the cleaner of the fossil energy sources currently and so natural gas is an important and vital part of each of the six countries' energy security needs," Mr Connaughton said.
"Having LNG as an opportunity in the US enhances our energy security because it promotes a diversity of potential future supply so we're not reliant on one particular area."
Asked if exporting Australian LNG was one of the trade opportunities that could emerge from the conference, Mr Connaughton said Australia was "a great provider of natural gas".
"We have a dedicated commitment to opening up the opportunity for a lot more LNG to America," he said.
Amid soaring energy costs for home heating in the US and predictions that within two years demand for energy in California - a bigger economy than China - will outstrip supply, the Bush administration is eyeing new and clean energy sources.
Australian LNG sales to date have been focused on markets in Japan, Korea and China, which in 2002 signed a $25 billion deal to buy gas from the Northwest Shelf, off the coast of Western Australia - Australia's biggest single export deal.
However, global petroleum giant Shell, one of the partners in the undeveloped $11 billion Gorgon gas project off Western Australia, plans to sell Australian gas to North America through a "receiving" terminal in Mexico.
BHP, which owns the Scarborough gas field off Western Australia, wants to sell its LNG directly to the US through the new gas terminal off the Californian coast. Approval for the terminal has been mired in regulatory hurdles.
But Australia's prospects of securing long-term gas supply contracts in California were buoyed last week when Mr Schwarzenegger announced a huge infrastructure program in his "state of the state" address.
"Our systems are at the breaking point now," he said. "We need more roads, more hospitals, more schools, more nurses, more teachers, more police, more fire, more water, more energy, more ports."
Each year, the US consumes the equivalent of all Northwest Shelf gas reserves and growth in energy consumption is forecast to be about 1.5 per cent a year.
Since the mid-1990s, imports of LNG to the US have been rising fast. But the American share of world LNG demand is still only about 8 per cent - against Japan, which consumes about half of the world's LNG.
"California's population is expected to increase by as much as 30 per cent over the next 20 years," Mr Schwarzenegger said. "That is the equivalent of adding three new cities the size of Los Angeles."
Australia's consul-general in Los Angeles, former South Australian premier John Olsen, welcomed Mr Connaughton's comments and said Australia was a step closer to winning gas contracts in the US.
"(His comments) identify Australia as a reliable and identifiable source of LNG," Mr Olsen said. "The US has the potential to be a long-term customer of Australian LNG similar to that of China and Japan."
Mr Connaughton said the US was hoping the Sydney meeting would "create new opportunities for trade and investment".
"Importantly, this is a two-way street. This is us providing information, opportunity, looking for opportunities in countries like China, South Korea, India. By the same token, we will be looking for investment back here in the United States."
