John Phaceas

WHILE junior explorers dominated the 10 best-performing Western Australian stocks last financial year, was there a defining characteristic that bound together the worst performers for the year? A lack of scale would seem to be one possibility, with the 10

THE global financial crisis had a marked impact on Western Australia's engineering contractors during the year as the slowdown forced resources companies to scale back and defer numerous new developments and expansions.

Woodside Petroleum chief executive Don Voelte said the company had suggested a range of exit options to its wavering partners in the $30 billion Browse LNG venture to facilitate the timely delivery of the massive project off the Kimberley coast.

WESTERN Australia's resources industry is demanding urgent implementation of measures to overhaul the state's failing approvals processes following a damning review commissioned by the state government.

THE proponent of Australia's biggest new coal-fired power plant believes the two-stage 330-kilovolt upgrade of the Perth-Geraldton transmission line has left the door open to competition among aspiring power proponents in the Mid West.

Woodside Petroleum expects to treble production from its Pluto LNG project at the Burrup Peninsula by 2014, after formally starting front end engineering and design work for two additional production trains at the site.

MINERS expect little benefit from the federal government's easing of foreign investment review regulations, which is aimed at speeding the flow of foreign capital into the junior end of the sector.

Shell's ambitions for establishing its first ever floating LNG facility in Australia have been boosted by a significant new gas discovery near its Prelude field in the Browse Basin.

An independent report prepared for the national competition watchdog has found that allowing joint marketing of gas from the Gorgon project would likely lead to higher prices for WA gas customers than if each partner was forced to market its share separat