Woodside’s project, known as OceanWay, would use new-generation tankers capable of onboard regassification of LNG.

Tankers arriving offshore Southern California would dock at a submerged buoy connected to a flexible pipe that would deliver gas to the seabed pipeline.

After being regassified aboard the tankers, the cargo would be delivered to shore through a seabed pipeline that would connect to the onshore pipeline system carrying gas to customers.

Woodside Natural Gas president Jane Cutler told a news conference in the state capital Sacramento that the company was assessing possible locations and expected to announce a delivery point in February.

Cutler estimated deliveries of LNG at 700 million cubic feet a day, with a total capacity of 1.4 billion cubic feet a day.

Woodside will seek approvals for the project from federal, state and local agencies, including the US Coast Guard, the California State Lands Commission, and the California Coastal Commission.

Cutler estimated it would take a couple of years to go through the permit process.

While the US is short of natural gas and prices are constantly rising, activists and local communities have resisted the establishment of LNG terminals, citing fears of environmental damage and risks of dangerous explosions.

Woodside is emphasing that it has an excellent safety record, delivering 2000 cargoes of LNG without a single major incident.