Japan's Mitsui Cleared to Export Gas from West Australian Project

    Japan's Mitsui & Co won an exemption from the Western Australian government on Monday to export gas from a new onshore field, in a push to jump start the project and help the state's recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

    Western Australia said it would ban all exports of onshore gas in a bid to hold down gas prices in the state, effectively ruling out a west-to-east pipeline to help the country's eastern states overcome a looming gas supply crunch.

    However the state said it would allow half the gas from Mitsui's Waitsia Stage 2 project to be exported as LNG through the North West Shelf LNG plant "for a short period of time", to help get the project started.

    "Once sanctioned, it will provide urgently needed jobs, royalties and economic stimulus for the region and the State," state premier Mark McGowan said in a statement.

    Analysts estimated Waitsia, one of Australia's five largest onshore gas discoveries over the past 40 years, would export 1.5 million tonnes a year of LNG for about seven years.