A MULTI-BILLION dollar liquefied natural gas plant is set to be developed in WA’s Kimberley region after a landmark deal between Aborigines, government and business.
Woodside, Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer, has agreed terms with the State of Western Australia and the Kimberley Land Council, to develop a LNG Precinct at James Price Point, north of Broome.
Indigenous land owners in Western Australia’s Kimberley region gave in-principal approval this week for the LNG processing hub to be developed in return for compensation worth more than $1 billion over 30 years.
The compensation package would create economic opportunities for Aborigines in the area and would include health and education programs as well as environmental and heritage protection.
Premier Colin Barnett said the decision to allow the gas hub on land at James Price Point would benefit the local indigenous population now that they had given approval for the project. “It will allow for security for them over freehold land over significant areas, and it will allow an opportunity to achieve an economic independence and self-determination,”
Woodside hopes to build the large coastal LNG plant, estimated to cost as much as AUD30 billion, in the environmentally sensitive area to liquefy natural gas pumped from the Browse Basin, 200 kilometres (124 miles) off the coast.
Woodside has today announced on their website they plan to execute a Heads of Agreement in the coming days, and will do so on the basis that the Kimberley LNG Precinct is its preferred site for the processing of LNG from the Browse Basin gas fields.

The Heads of Agreement will outline commitments for all the parties involved, and significant financial and other benefits for Indigenous people in the Kimberley.
 
Woodside signed a A$35 billion deal with PetroChina in 2007 to sell up to 3 million tonnes of LNG a year from Browse over 15 to 20 years.
The Browse Basin holds reserves of more than 50 trillion cubic feet, or a third of Australia’s known offshore gas.