Project Background
What is OceanWay?
OceanWay is the public relations spin name for an off-shore LNG project. This proposed project will import LNG on massive tankers across the Pacific Ocean to a location twenty-seven miles off the coast of LAX. The size of three football fields lined end-to-end, the LNG tankers will be docked to off-load foreign fuel to two underwater pipelines.
What is LNG?
LNG (liquefied natural gas) is a fossil fuel just like coal and oil. LNG is natural gas that has been super-cooled and turned into a liquid - for transporting over long distances - which must be heated back into a gas in order to be used. Like coal and oil, LNG contributes to greenhouse gases and global warming and, over its lifecycle (see below image), LNG can produce as much pollution as burning coal.
Who is Woodside?
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. (or simply Woodside) is Australia’s largest publicly traded oil and gas company and is the force behind the proposed LNG project. According to Woodside’s Annual Report for 2007:
- Woodside revenues exceeded $4 billion for 2007 (p.7)
- Shell owns 34% of Woodside’s shares (p.129)
- Woodside is poised to be an LNG leader thanks to fast-growing international demand and limited supply (p.10)