Australia backs gas plant on native land

By Rob Taylor  |   2008-12-25  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

AUSTRALIA'S government has backed the forced purchase of Aboriginal lands needed for a liquefied natural gas plant in a sensitive region in Browse Basin.

Woodside Petroleum Ltd aims to build a large coastal LNG plant costing up to A$20 billion (US$13.58 billion) in the environmentally fragile Kimberley area of Western Australia to liquefy natural gas pumped from the Browse Basin, about 200 kilometers off the coast.

"We have to compete in a global market in a very tough economic situation and the Browse LNG province is very important to Australia," Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said.

The conservative Western Australia state government on Tuesday ended months of wrangling over the plant's location, saying it would be built at James Price Point, about 60 kilometers north of the tourist town of Broome.

Traditional Aborigine land owners this month put the project in doubt after negotiations with Woodside over a A$500-million compensation package broke down. The region is one of Australia's last great wilderness areas, environmentalists say.

"It's now our responsibility to make sure that through cooperation, the West Australian and the Australian government will resolve any outstanding indigenous and issues," Ferguson said. Kimberley Land Council Chief Executive Wayne Bergmann, who represents indigenous owners, said local Aborigines are under enormous pressure to concede on hard-won land rights.

Woodside signed a A$35-billion deal with PetroChina in 2007 to sell up to 3 million tonnes of LNG a year from the Browse over 15 to 20 years. The Basin holds more than 50 trillion cubic feet reserves.