ExxonMobil plans to develop a project to import liquefied natural gas (LNG) on Australia’s east coast that has been suffering from gas shortages lately. The U.S. supermajor is planning for the project to start up as early as in 2022, a spokesman for Exxon told Platts in an email on Monday. Exxon’s Australian unit Esso Australia Pty Ltd and a unit of BHP Billiton each hold 50 percent in the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture (GBJV) for oil and gas exploration off the Gippsland coast in the state of Victoria. Earlier this year, ExxonMobil and BHP Billiton decided to abandon the 20-month-long sales process of their joint ageing oil and gas assets offshore Australia and said that they would keep ownership and operation of the fields and associated infrastructure. Meanwhile, although Australia is closing in on Qatar to become the world’s largest LNG exporter, its eastern coast has been suffering […]