Gorgon, one of the world's biggest liquefied natural gas deve-lopments, cleared its final big regulatory hurdle yesterday when Australia's federal government granted environmental approval for the US$42bn project.
Canberra's decision paves the way for Chevron, the US oil group that is 50 per cent owner and operator of Gorgon, to make its final investment decision to develop the project's gas fields off the coast of Western Australia.
That decision is expected within the coming weeks as ExxonMobil of the US and Anglo-Dutch Royal Dutch Shell, which are Chevron's partners, are widely viewed as ready to start after having secured major customers, including China and Japan, for Gorgon's gas.