Woodside Petroleum has finalised a land use agreement for its Browse LNG development in Western Australia, the company said in a statement Thursday.
Under the agreement, signed by Woodside, the state of Western Australia and the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr native title claim group, over A$1 billion ($1.07 billion) of social and economic benefits will be provided to the indigenous people in the Kimberly area.
The deal follows more than two years of talks and is a significant milestone for the proposed Browse LNG project, Woodside said.
Woodside and its partners BHP Billiton, BP, Chevron and Shell are working on plans for a 12 million mt/year foundation LNG project at James Price Point, based on 14 Tcf of gas in the offshore Browse Basin's Torosa, Brecknock and Calliance fields.
Under a federal government-imposed retention lease condition, the partners have committed to spending A$1.25 billion ($1.34 billion) developing the Browse LNG project ahead of a final investment decision in the middle of next year.
