April 15 (Bloomberg) -- Woodside Petroleum Ltd., Western Australia and Aboriginal landowners in the state’s far northwest reached a land-access accord that allows development of a natural-gas export hub, said Premier Colin Barnett.

About 90 percent of landowners representing Aboriginal communities in the region voted today in favor of an offer from the state, the federal government and Woodside, giving the company access to James Price Point to build the hub, the Western Australia premier said today in an e-mailed statement.

The agreement will provide benefits valued at more than A$1 billion ($720 million) to the Aboriginal communities in the Kimberley region over 30 years, Barnett said on Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio. Barnett announced in December plans to build the hub to provide a processing site for gas from the Browse Basin, including Woodside’s Browse LNG venture, estimated by partner BHP Billiton Ltd. to cost as much as $30 billion.

“This has got immense implications for the whole nation,” Barnett said. “While the amount of money is very large it is over 30 years and that is the value that is put on various components which include health, education, training, employment, land-swaps and there is a cash component mainly from the side of industry.”

The parties will now seek a land-use agreement by early next year, allowing construction of the hub to start by late 2011, Barnett said. The Browse Basin off the coast of Kimberley holds about 30 trillion cubic feet of undeveloped gas resources.

‘Yes to Jobs’

“Traditional owners have said yes to jobs and economic opportunities, but not at any price,” Wayne Bergmann, chief executive officer of the Kimberley Land Council, said in an e- mailed statement. “Today’s decision ensures that traditional owners will continue to be part of the process for deciding the development that takes place on their land.”

Woodside, Australia’s second-biggest oil and gas producer, said in December it will decide by mid-year whether to develop Browse gas through a project at the Kimberley hub or by piping the gas about 850 kilometers (528 miles) south to existing LNG production sites on the Burrup Peninsula. BHP, BP Plc, Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have stakes in the venture.

“We are pleased with the progress of the discussions and we look forward to formally concluding an agreement,” Roger Martin, a Perth-based Woodside spokesman, said today by phone.

LNG is natural gas chilled to liquid form for transportation by tanker to destinations not connected by pipeline.

To contact the reporter on this story: Jesse Riseborough in Melbourne at jriseborough@bloomberg.net

Last Updated: April 15, 2009 06:29 EDT