Australia's LNG megaproject boom enters final stretch

Melbourne

THE last massive component of Australia's US$180 billion liquefied natural gas (LNG) construction boom arrived on Monday, stepping up a race between Anglo-Dutch giant Shell and Japan's Inpex to start chilling gas for export in 2018.

Company reputations are at stake, as well as first access to overlapping gas fields and Australia leapfrogging Qatar as the world's largest exporter of LNG.