BHP Billiton announced today the Angel project, a newly-installed addition to the North West Shelf Joint Venture (NWS), is now operational and producing natural gas and condensate. Angel will add capacity to the NWS of up to 800 million standard cubic feet of gas a day and up to 50,000 barrels of condensate a day, on a 100 per cent basis.

The Angel project is located approximately 115 kilometres (71 miles) offshore Western Australia and consists of a new platform and associated infrastructure, including a 50 kilometre (31 mile) subsea pipeline tied back to the existing North Rankin A Platform. The Angel Platform stands in about 80 metres (262 feet) of water and supplied by three subsea production wells. The additional gas volumes will underpin the North West Shelf Joint Venture’s five trains of LNG production.

BHP Billiton Petroleum Chief Executive, J Michael Yeager, said the new field development was another significant milestone for Australia’s biggest resource project and will boost offshore production capacity required to underpin and enhance LNG sales going forward.

"The Angel project builds on the foundation of the North West Shelf’s LNG business at a time of increasing energy requirements in the Asia region", Mr Yeager said.

The project commenced in December 2005. BHP Billiton’s share of the capital expenditure is approximately US$200 million.

The six equal participants in the NWS Project are: Woodside Energy Ltd. (16.67 per cent and operator); BHP Billiton Petroleum (North West Shelf) Pty Ltd (16.67 per cent); BP Developments Australia Pty Ltd (16.67 per cent); Chevron Australia Pty Ltd (16.67 per cent); Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd (16.67 per cent); and Shell Development (Australia) Pty Ltd (16.67 per cent). CNOOC NWS Private Limited is also a member of the North West Shelf Venture but does not have an interest in North West Shelf Venture infrastructure.

This document contains certain forward-looking statements relating to the business, financial performance and results of the Company and/or the industry in which it operates. Forward-looking statements concern future circumstances and results and other statements that are not historical facts, sometimes identified by the words "believes", "expects", "predicts", "intends", "projects", "plans", "estimates", "aims", "foresees", "anticipates", "targets", and similar expressions. The forward-looking statements, contained in this document, including assumptions, opinions and views of the Company or cited from third party sources are solely opinions and forecasts which are uncertain and subject to risks. A multitude of factors can cause actual events to differ significantly from any anticipated development. Neither the Company nor any of its subsidiaries nor any of its officers or employees guarantees that the assumptions underlying such forward-looking statements are free from errors nor does any of the foregoing accept any responsibility for the future accuracy of the opinions expressed in this document or the actual occurrence of the forecasted developments.