dow jones talk news mentioning meo, page-4

THE company responsible for the 2009 Montara oil spill wants to use revolutionary and untested new technology to tap remote gas fields in Australian waters.
In documents lodged with Australian environment regulators, the Thai energy company PTTEP has revealed ambitions to join the ranks of oil and gas firms that will produce LNG from floating vessels.
The floating LNG concept will allow all stages of the production process to be completed on a single vessel, which floats directly above the remote gas fields.
The 400 metre long, 65 metre-wide vessel removes the need to pipe gas to specially constructed onshore processing plants, a feature that PTTEP said would lessen the ''physical and environmental footprint of the development''.
Such technology has never been used before, but in May Shell became the first company to commission an FLNG facility, when it took a final investment decision on such a vessel for its Prelude field off Western Australia.
Several companies have since followed suit, with Malaysia's Petronas vowing to beat Shell's 2017 production target.
PTTEP wants to use the FLNG technology on a series of Australian gas fields that are 700 kilometres north of Broome and 200 kilometres south of Indonesia.
The company told regulators that it would not be economically viable to tap the fields using traditional methods, given their extremely remote location.
The application is the third application lodged in Australia by PTTEP since the Montara spill, which saw plumes of oil spill into the sensitive Timor Sea for more than 70 days.



Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/business/oil-spill-firm-seeks-testbed-for-floating-lng-20110705-1h0tx.html#ixzz1RTLwSrxx