Ferguson issues four-month deadline for Browse partners

Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson has given the warring Kimberley LNG parties four months to set aside their differences and choose a development path for the $30 billion Browse Basin gas project.

In granting a renewal of the retention leases that cover the project's Browse Basin gasfields, Mr Ferguson said today that the joint venture partners also had to aim for a final investment decision for the contentious project within three years, as part of the renewal conditions.

The Kimberley LNG operator and biggest shareholder Woodside Petroleum has been battling the other partners - Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell, BHP Billiton and BP - over the best way to develop the project.

Woodside wants a greenfields LNG plant at James Price Point, north of Broome, whereas most of the other partners want the Browse gas to be used to backfill the North West Shelf venture when gas starts running out from 2020.