By James Paton – Aug 26, 2010 4:48 AM GMT+0100
Royal Dutch Shell Plc has brought the former manager of Sakhalin-2, Russias first liquefied natural gas project, to Australia to oversee development of a proposed venture that may cost more than $20 billion.
Shell, OAO Gazproms partner in the $22 billion Russian project, assigned Hilary Mercer to the Queensland venture, Ann Pickard, chairman of the companys Australian unit, said in an interview. Shell and PetroChina Co. this week completed the purchase of Arrow Energy Ltd., gaining gas for an LNG venture that may produce 16 million metric tons of fuel a year.