North West Shelf Australia LNG President Peter Cleary said Monday that demand for spot liquefied natural gas cargoes in Asia has almost vanished as a result of the global economic downturn.

Demand for spot cargoes "in Asia, and Japan in particular, has almost disappeared", Cleary said at the fourth annual LNG World Conference.

North West Shelf Australia LNG is the marketing unit for the Woodside Petroleum Ltd.-operated (WPL.AU) venture in Western Australia state.

In 2008, nearly all of the North West Shelf venture's production was sold under contract to long-term buyers, Cleary said. However this year, following an expansion in late 2008, the North West Shelf has sold spot cargoes to India and Europe and recently discharged a cargo in Kuwait, he said.

-By Stephen Bell, contributing to Dow Jones Newswires; 61-8-9244-4243; sgbell@bigpond.com