Howard hits LA for gasbag with Arnie

SOME politicians are born snake-oil salesmen but John Howard turned spruiker of a different commodity - liquefied natural gas - as he pressed BHP Billiton's case at a meeting with California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger in Los Angeles early today.

At the start of a whirlwind overseas trip, which will see the Prime Minister travel to Washington, London and the beaches of Normandy over the next five days, Mr Howard met the actor turned politician to discuss BHP's plans to build an LNG terminal.

The mining giant is hoping to secure a firm contract to build the platform off the California coast, but is facing environmental concerns and strong competition from other energy suppliers.

Armed with a gift of RM Williams boots, Mr Howard said last night he was determined to "plead BHP's case" during his 20-minute audience with The Terminator.

"This is a very important opportunity," he told reporters as he arrived at the swank Beverly Wilshire hotel.

But any hopes of bipartisan political support for the bid were dashed, with Labor's resources spokesman, Joel Fitzgibbon, launching a strident attack on the LNG proposal. He questioned whether Mr Howard was simply interested in a "photo op" with Mr Schwarzenegger, while also casting doubt on BHP's bona fides.

Mr Fitzgibbon said BHP had "relatively few" gas interests in Australia and appeared more interested in securing the rights to a "monopoly" receiver terminal, which could be used as leverage to secure more lucrative supply contracts.

BHP chairman Don Argus was to accompany Mr Howard to the meeting with Mr Schwarzenegger, although a decision on the LNG contract is not expected until later this year.

Local communities have concerns over the environmental effects of the gas project, but Mr Howard was reluctant to express a view on whether BHP could find itself out-voted by people power.

Mr Howard is to meet US President George W. Bush on Thursday morning, Washington time, to discuss Iraq's transition to democracy and the fallout from the abuse of prisoners at Baghdad's Abu Ghraib jail.

"California has enormous energy requirements, Australia has extraordinary supplies of LNG and we're very efficient and we're very safe ... and of course America and Australia are close reliable partners and we have a similar legal system and therefore we're able to promise stability and deliverability."

Of course Australia and China and have something in common too...HUGE trade contracts. Search LNG contracts.
___________________________________________________________

Australia's BHP wins nine billion dollar steel contract in China
Feb 29 '04

BEIJING (AFP) — Anglo-Australia miner BHP Billiton has won a nine billion US dollar deal to supply 12 million tons of iron ore annually over 25 years to four Chinese steelmakers, the company said.

It is the biggest contract BHP has ever won in China.

BHP will also set up a joint venture with the four companies under which the four will take a combined 40 percent stake in a sub-lease for BHP's Jimblebar mine operations near Newman in western Australia, the statement said.

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.