mel's sp ahead of csg out of newcastle

MELBOURNE (Dow Jones)--Australia's New South Wales coal seam gas producers have held talks with Newcastle Port to build a liquified natural gas plant and set up a second LNG export hub on Australia's east coast, the Australian newspaper reported Monday.

The report said Santos Ltd. (STO.AU) has spoken to authorities about using Newcastle Port to export up to 40 petajoules of coal seam gas it has in the Gunnedah Basin.

Eastern Star Gas (ESG.AU) Managing Director David Casey also confirmed that his company was one of the groups that approached the port.

"It is at very, very preliminary stages, but we are looking at the possibilities of Newcastle Port," Casey was quoted as saying.

A Newcastle Port spokesman confirmed preliminary discussions with various parties, the report said.


Newspaper Web site: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au

-By Melbourne bureau; 61-2-9292-2092; [email protected]


Did no-one pick this up today??

ESG & MEL - no change in share price. ESG have even confirmed they were involved in talks.
I would have thought this was the beginning of the next stage of CSG in Australia - exports out of NSW as well as Queensland??

Anyone care??