Australia yesterday approved a massive energy project that will supply natural gas worth tens of billions of dollars to China and India, giving new impetus to its resources boom.
Environment Minister Peter Garrett imposed 28 conditions to protect wildlife but said he saw no reason to block the Gorgon liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant off Western Australia, allowing it to clear the final regulatory hurdle.
The project is a joint venture by Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil, which has signed a record US$41-billion (1.4-trillion) contract with Chinese giant PetroChina and another worth $21 billion with India's Petronet.
The Gorgon field, thought to hold more than 40 trillion cubic feet of gas, is expected to create thousands of jobs and pump billions of dollars into Australia's economy.
Chevron, majority partner in the project, welcomed the approval and said a final investment decision would be made within months.
"The Gorgon project is Australia's largest single resource project and is set to deliver significant economic benefits and create around 10,000 indirect and direct jobs during peak construction," said Roy Krzywosinski, the company's Australian managing director.
He said the plant was "globallly and nationally significant, with an economic life of at least 40 years".
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment