Woodside Petroleum Limited
(ASX:WPL) and its partners in the Browse LNG project are expected to announce plans to move forward with a floating LNG plant development, according to media reports.
In April, the project's backers abandoned plans to build an onshore plant at James Price Point that would have cost at least $50 billion, but said an onshore development remained an option.
But Woodside has reportedly determined that any onshore development would not be viable, and that building one or two floating LNG plants is the preferred option.
Woodside chief executive Peter Coleman told media he doubted the onshore option was viable.
Woodside is expected to inform the federal and state government of its decision within the next two weeks, with one or two floating plants likely to be the preferred outcome.
Woodside generated a net profit of $2.9 billion for its 2012 financial year.
