The Browse LNG is a $30 billion liquefied natural gas plant

LNG train

An LNG train is the term used to describe the liquefaction and purification facilities in a liquefied natural gas plant.In order to make it practical and commercially viable to transport natural gas from one country to another, its volume has to be greatly reduced...

 project proposed for construction at James Price Point, 60 kilometres (37.3 mi) North of Broome

Broome, Western Australia

Broome is a pearling and tourist town in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, north of Perth. The year round population is approximately 14,436, growing to more than 45,000 per month during the tourist season...

 on the Dampier Peninsula

Dampier Peninsula

The Dampier Peninsula is a peninsula located north of Broome and Roebuck Bay in Western Australia. It is surrounded by the Indian Ocean to the west and north, and King Sound to the east...

, Western Australia

Western Australia

Western Australia is a state of Australia, occupying the entire western third of the Australian continent. It is bounded by the Indian Ocean to the north and west, the Great Australian Bight and Indian Ocean to the south, the Northern Territory to the north-east and South Australia to the south-east...

. The plant is being built by a joint partnership including Woodside Petroleum

Woodside Petroleum

Woodside Petroleum Limited is an Australian petroleum exploration and production company. It is a public company listed on the Australian Securities Exchange and has its headquarters in Perth, Western Australia.-History:...

, Chevron Corporation

Chevron Corporation

Chevron Corporation is an American multinational energy corporation headquartered in San Ramon, California, United States and active in more than 180 countries. It is engaged in every aspect of the oil, gas, and geothermal energy industries, including exploration and production; refining,...

, Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell

Royal Dutch Shell plc , commonly known as Shell, is a global oil and gas company headquartered in The Hague, Netherlands and with its registered office in London, United Kingdom. It is the fifth-largest company in the world according to a composite measure by Forbes magazine and one of the six...

, BP

BP

BP p.l.c. is a global oil and gas company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest energy company and fourth-largest company in the world measured by revenues and one of the six oil and gas "supermajors"...

, and BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton

BHP Billiton is a global mining, oil and gas company headquartered in Melbourne, Australia and with a major management office in London, United Kingdom...

. It would process natural gas

Natural gas

Natural gas is a naturally occurring gas mixture consisting primarily of methane, typically with 0–20% higher hydrocarbons . It is found associated with other hydrocarbon fuel, in coal beds, as methane clathrates, and is an important fuel source and a major feedstock for fertilizers.Most natural...

 extracted from the Browse Basin. Liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas

Liquefied natural gas or LNG is natural gas that has been converted temporarily to liquid form for ease of storage or transport....

 would then be shipped from a port facility also located in the Browse LNG Precinct.

Technical description

The plant will include three LNG trains able to process an expected 15 million tonnes of LNG per year. LNG would be pumped via 8 pipelines to a 2 kilometres (1.2 mi) jetty. In the construction phase the Precinct would also include a camp to house 8000 workers and would entail the clearing of 2500 hectares (6,177.6 acre) of coastal bushland.

The Browse Basin contains proven gas reserves of 30.4 Gcuft of gas and 600 Moilbbl of condensate. Estimations of the reserves range up to 60 Gcuft, making the basin comparable in size to the North West Shelf

North West Shelf

The North West Shelf of Western Australia is an extensive oil and gas region off the North West Australia coast in the Pilbara region.It has a considerable number of oil and gas wells, pipelines, production areas and support facilities.- Location :...

 region.

Native title

The Kimberley Land Council

Kimberley Land Council

Kimberley Land Council Aboriginal Corporation ICN 21 is an association of Aboriginal people in the Kimberley region. It was formed at a meeting at Noonkanbah Station in May 1978....

, as the representatives of the local Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr Aboriginal people under the 1993 Native Title Act, supported construction by 60% of votes. However, a number of traditional owners are currently in a legal challenge against this decision. In a press statement they say "…many local Indigenous people are disgusted by the apparent abandonment of the established process put in place by the previous State government. Concerns include the threats made earlier in the year by the Premier regarding compulsory acquisition of land and the pre-empting of the Joint State and Commonwealth environmental and cultural assessment process via announcements by Woodside and the Premier."

Environmental concerns

According to Australian Greens

Australian Greens

The Australian Greens, commonly known as The Greens, is an Australian green political party.The party was formed in 1992; however, its origins can be traced to the early environmental movement in Australia and the formation of the United Tasmania Group , the first Green party in the world, which...

, construction of the port facilities, including the dredging and blasting of reefs and seabed, is expected to result in a 50 square kilometres (19.3 sq mi) 'marine deadzone'. Construction is also expected to irreparably damage a large amount of fossils unique to the area, including the only example of dinosaur footprint extant in Western Australia.

Once operating the condensation plant is expected to discharge some 30 million m3s (1,059,439,986.4 cu ft) of waste water into the ocean each year. A coalition of 25 international conservation groups has raised questions as to how it may impact the area's wildlife, especially as the area is "an important habitat for marine turtles, whales and seabirds." Broome's coast is home to the world's largest Humpback whale

Humpback Whale

The humpback whale is a species of baleen whale. One of the larger rorqual species, adults range in length from and weigh approximately . The humpback has a distinctive body shape, with unusually long pectoral fins and a knobbly head. It is an acrobatic animal, often breaching and slapping the...

 nursery, five species of turtle, dugong

Dugong

The dugong is a large marine mammal which, together with the manatees, is one of four living species of the order Sirenia. It is the only living representative of the once-diverse family Dugongidae; its closest modern relative, Steller's sea cow , was hunted to extinction in the 18th century...

, coral reefs and snubfin dolphin.

Since construction began on site there have been a large number of protests. The Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke

Tony Burke

Anthony Stephen 'Tony' Burke is an Australian politician representing the Labor Party, and the current Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities . He first entered public office in 2003 as a member of the New South Wales Legislative Council...

still has the power to halt development at the site, as he has yet to grant Federal environmental approval to the project.