Shell, Total Sign Accord to Sell LNG

Royal Dutch Shell Plc, Europe's second-biggest oil company, and Total SA signed an initial accord to sell as much as 2 million metric tons a year of liquefied natural gas to Gujarat State Petroleum Corp., as reported by Bloomberg. As much as 500,000 metric tons a year of the gas will be supplied from the Gorgon LNG venture in Western Australia. Deliveries may start in 2010. Shell owns 25 percent of the Chevron Corp.-operated Gorgon venture, which so far has initial accords to sell LNG to customers in Japan and Mexico. Shell hasn't specified where the rest of the LNG volumes it will supply to India will come from, or how many years the agreement will last. (Source: Bloomberg)