Chief executive Don Voelte announced in Singapore last week that Woodside had been shortlisted to aggregate gas supplies for the terminal.

The aggregator, expected to be selected within a few months, will receive an exclusive licence to import LNG.

Due to be completed in 2012, the terminal is expected to initially import about 1.2 million tonnes of LNG per annum, building to 3MMt.

Winning the contract would give Woodside three foundation customers for its Browse development, with Singapore joining PetroChina and Taiwan's CPC.

Voelte has said previously Woodside was seeking five foundation customers for Browse LNG.

Even though Browse would not be operating until about 2014, at the earliest, there is sufficient spare capacity in Woodside's Pluto LNG development under construction in northwest Australia to cover the Singapore contract's start-up period.

Indeed the gas for Singapore, PetroChina and CPC might never come from Browse, as Woodside has made it clear the Greater Sunrise LNG project, drawing from gas in the Joint Petroleum Development Area between Australia and East Timor, could well be built before Browse, and gas from this scheme could be substituted for any Browse supply contracts.