This headline seems inaccurate, it's just not expanding further it seems? The headline sounds like they're turning out the lights and going home.<p>First paragraph:<p><i>"Chevron Corp. has signaled the end of major new LNG projects in Western Australia and is unlikely to sanction an expansion of its Gorgon and Wheatstone export developments as it focuses on boosting returns from $88 billion of investment."</i>
To put this in perspective, the population of Western Australia is about 2.6 million people. Most of those -- around 2 million -- live in Perth. Around $33k spent for every many, woman and child in the state.<p>A lot of that $88 billion (Gorgon and Wheatstone) was spent on local labour and supplies. And Gorgon was <i>one</i> capital project. At the height of the boom, there were hundreds of billions of dollars of capital projects underway <i>simultaneously</i> across Australia.<p>When I was last in SF a few months ago it reminded me of Perth at the height of the boom.<p>And I found it unsettling.
Honestly, I never know what to believe when I read these articles. A good friend of mine was on the board of a major oil company - and he told me stories about the backroom deals involving huge investments. Huge projects were really pay-offs to one country which would in-turn take actions impacting another country and resulting in furthering the oil company's goals (which weren't always just direct profit. Politicians put in power - groups hurt or supported - payback for favors from years before - actions to influence major court decisions years in the future.) Oil companies act in completely opaque ways.<p>At this point, I'm really just convinced that we need public involvement with all decisions by all powerful organizations - whether government or business. Nobody is on our side at these places.
Smart move by Chevron.<p>Soon there will be some big LNG projects coming online in the USA. Two that are not just proposals but are in various stages of construction are:<p><a href="http://www.cheniere.com/terminals/sabine-pass/" rel="nofollow">http://www.cheniere.com/terminals/sabine-pass/</a><p><a href="https://www.dom.com/covepoint" rel="nofollow">https://www.dom.com/covepoint</a>
Smart move because there is not economic incentive for most "green energy" projects. Apologies to my liberal friends, but until you go full-Marxist in the first world countries, market-cost will always win. Game on!