Top oil and gas producer Woodside Energy said on Thursday that it has received environmental approval from the state of Western Australia to extend its North West Shelf liquefied natural gas (LNG) project until 2070.
The decision by the state ends a six-year-long wait for approval by the energy firm and recommences the federal environmental approval process that was paused pending appeals, Woodside said.
The state's approval was "an important step to enable the long-term processing of North West Shelf Joint Venture field resources and third-party gas resources through the Karratha Gas Plant," Liz Westcott, Woodside's Executive Vice President, said.
Since exporting its first LNG cargo in 1989, the North West Shelf project has shipped more than 6,000 cargoes and has invested AU$34 billion (US$21.82 billion), according to Woodside's website.
Woodside operates the project along with China's CNOOC , the local subsidiaries of Chevron, Shell, BP, and Japan Australia LNG.
(Reporting by Nikita Maria Jino in Bengaluru; Editing by Sonia Cheema)