Woodside plans to move LNG to California - Breaking News - Business - Breaking News

Woodside Petroleum Ltd plans to seek approval to deliver liquefied natural gas to California from Australia.

The Australian energy producer said it plans to deliver the LNG via tankers to a site at least 15 miles offshore Southern California.

From there it would be turned back to gas aboard the tankers and then delivered to shore through a pipeline on the seabed.

The company said it is exploring possible locations for the delivery.

Jane Cutler, president of subsidiary Woodside Natural Gas, told a news conference in Sacramento that the company expects to announce a delivery point in February.

Ms Cutler declined to discuss costs for the proposed project but said the price tag for the delivery system "is hundreds of millions of dollars."

Tankers arriving offshore Southern California would dock at a submerged buoy connected to a flexible pipe that would deliver gas to the seabed pipeline.

The line would connect to the onshore pipeline system carrying gas to customers.

Cutler estimated deliveries of LNG at 700 million cubic feet a day, with a total capacity of 1.4 billion cubic feet a day.

Woodside will seek approvals for the project from federal, state and local agencies, including the US Coast Guard, the California State Lands Commission, and the California Coastal Commission.

Ms Cutler estimated it would take a couple of years to go through the permit process.