A DEAL to supply Guangdong Province with liquefied natural gas from Australia's North West Shelf project had been finalized, Australian energy company Woodside Petroleum Ltd. announced Monday (Dec 12th).

Woodside and its partners in the North West Shelf project had been negotiating with Guangdong Dapeng LNG Co. since signing a preliminary agreement in October 2002.

"All conditions in the contract have now been satisfied," Woodside, a key partner in the project, said in a statement.

Wu Zhenfang, chairman of Guangdong Dapeng LNG Co., said the 25-year supply contract was a major milestone in the development of the Guangdong LNG project.

"The Guangdong LNG project is the start of a very important journey for China in developing a world-class natural gas industry," Wu said in the statement.

Woodside and its partners plan to ship LNG to China at an annual rate of 3.3 million tons.

Woodside has previously said the LNG shipments would begin in the second half of 2006.

The deal clears the way for other parts of a larger agreement with China to come into effect, including equity participation in the North West Shelf Venture by State-run China National Offshore Oil Corp.

Editor: Wing