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Forced Land Purchase Makes LNG Plan More Certain, Woodside Petroleum Says
Woodside Petroleum Ltd. said it is more certain the $30 billion Browse gas project in Western Australia will proceed after the state government started the forced acquisition of land for the venture.
The move to take over the site followed the failure of local indigenous groups with claims to the land to reach agreement, Premier Colin Barnett said in a statement today. The decision still allows for negotiation with traditional land owners, Perth-based Woodside said in a separate statement.
Woodside and its partners early this year chose a site in the Kimberley region to process gas from the Browse field to meet an Australian government deadline to decide how to develop the venture. Woodside and the other companies involved, including Chevron Corp. and Royal Dutch Shell Plc, target a decision on whether to commit to developing the liquefied natural gas venture in 2012.
“Developing gas from the Browse Basin is critical for the development of this state, this nation and its indigenous people,” Barnett said in his statement.
Woodside rose 0.6 percent to A$43.15 at 1:48 p.m. in Sydney, almost in line with the 0.7 percent gain in the benchmark S&P/ASX 200 Index.
The LNG development is planned for James Price Point, 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Broome. The Browse partners had also considered piping the gas about 1,000 kilometers south to existing processing facilities at Karratha.
The Kimberley Land Council and traditional owners were unable to reach an agreement with the state and Woodside, Australia’s second-largest oil and gas producer, by the June 30 deadline, the Western Australia premier said, refusing to extend the period for a fourth time. The state said the site is unallocated Crown land.
Woodside said it remains committed to delivering the benefits from the Browse venture promised to the local indigenous population, valued at more than A$1 billion ($910 million).
To contact the reporter on this story: James Paton in Sydney jpaton4@bloomberg.net.
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