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By Sonali Paul
MELBOURNE, Feb 14 (Reuters) - Australia's North West Shelf (NWS) Project has taken South Korea's Korea Gas Corp (KOGAS) into arbitration over a liquefied natural gas (LNG) contract, chief executive of the venture's operator said on Wednesday, arguing that KOGAS owes NWS money.
Reuters reported on Tuesday that the state-run Korean firm known as KOGAS 036460.KS and NWS were in arbitration over the pricing of a mid-term supply contract, after a KOGAS spokesman had confirmed arbitration without further comment. West Shelf's view is that KOGAS owes the North West Shelf money, not the other way around," Peter Coleman told analysts on Wednesday, adding that he is able to comment on this as "clearly someone in Korea has broken confidentiality".
Coleman is the chief executive of Australian major Woodside Petroleum WPL.AX , operator of the NWS Project.
The arbitration is over a contract that expired in 2016 and that was at very low price slopes, he said. LNG contract was for about eight cargoes a year over a couple of years, he said. Woodside's equity was one-sixth.
"It's just about price ... every contract has this in it, that you renegotiate prices," he said in a separate media call.
"It's just a buyer is taking a view that we fundamentally disagree with ... and is inconsistent with the way other buyers have treated these price discussions," Coleman said.