Woodside, Rio Developing A$70.5 Billion of Projects (Update1)
By Rebecca Keenan
May 21 (Bloomberg) -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Rio Tinto Group and competitors are developing a record A$70.5 billion ($67 billion) of minerals and energy projects in Australia to meet growing demand, the government's commodity forecaster said.
The value of advanced projects is 62 percent higher than the same time a year ago, the Canberra-based Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics said in a statement today on its Web site. Energy projects, including oil, gas and coal, account for about 55 percent of the projects, it said.
Australian resources companies are increasing output as prices rise, driven by demand led by China. New projects and expansions are becoming more expensive as labor shortages continue and raw materials costs increase, the bureau said.
``Project cost pressures and delays are a challenge for the global mining industry and are expected to continue in the short to medium term while this level of development activity continues,'' Executive Director Phillip Glyde said in the statement.
Woodside's A$12 billion Pluto liquefied natural gas project off the coast of Western Australia is the biggest in terms of capital expenditure. The biggest minerals project is the A$5.2 billion Sino iron ore project owned by CITIC Pacific Ltd., the Hong Kong arm of China's biggest state-owned investing company.
To contact the reporter on this story: Rebecca Keenan in Melbourne at [email protected]
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