No halting PetroChina gas deal

FEDERAL Environment Minister Malcolm Turnbull yesterday approved the massive Gorgon gas project off Western Australia - another multi-billion dollar development to fuel China's growth.

While still taking flack yesterday over his decision on Gunns' proposed Tasmanian wood pulp mill, Mr Turnbulll ticked Gorgon off - as the WA Government had earlier done -- subject to a long list of conditions.

The decision, over opposition from environmentalists, was welcomed by project partners ExxonMobil and Shell. They signed an in-principle deal during Chinese president Hu Jintao's recent APEC visit to Australia to supply Gorgon gas worth more than $7 billion to PetroChina.

Yesterday's decision should open the door to much bigger Gorgon sale contracts, though not necessarily with PetroChina.

The Chinese giant also signed Australia's biggest trade deal during the APEC visit, worth $45 billion, to take 20 years of supply from the Woodside-managed Browse Basin development also off the WA coast.

The Gorgon field is Australia's largest known gas resource and is near the North-West Shelf gas fields.

The development will involve a liquefied natural gas (LNG) facility on Barrow Island, where Chevron has operated for more than 40 years - and the overall project could cost from $15 billion to as much as $20 billion.

WA Environment Minister David Templeman last month imposed 36 environmental conditions.

Chevron Australia general manager for the Gorgon area, Colin Beckett, described the rulings as the most stringent imposed on a major project anywhere in the world.

Mr Beckett said Mr Turnbull's decision was welcome after four years of rigorous state and federal assessment.

"Strict environmental protection measures will be required to protect Commonwealth environment matters, including listed threatened and migratory species and rare vegetation on Barrow Island," Mr Turnbull said.

WA's Environment Protection Authority had argued the deal could threaten the habitat of species such as the rare flatback turtle.

New conditions imposed include the development of a quarantine management plan, overseen by an expert advisory panel, to protect threatened species on the island.