The retention lease renewals include a condition that an agreement for project development must occur within 120 days of the notice of intent to grant the renewals.
As part of the renewal, the Federal and state governments have also stipulated that the Browse joint venture partners must work toward a final investment decision in the third year of the retention release period.
"We're happy with the conditions, we're happy with the milestones that are set out. It mimics exactly the program we had laid out for James Price Point so it just puts everything in place," Mr Voelte said.
Mr Voelte has said that Woodside would select the James Price Point site in the Kimberly “unless the venture can demonstrate an alternative development concept that is likely to be commercially viable at an earlier time.”
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The joint venture partners are deliberating between developing the 7 million tonne per annum (MMt/a) processing facility at James Price Point, the location of the Western Australian Government’s proposed Kimberley LNG Hub, or adjacent to Woodside’s Pluto Gas Project at Karratha.
Woodside is yet to discuss the time limit clauses with its joint venture partners but Mr Voelte has said that the company is ready to take extra equity in the Browse LNG Development if one of the joint venture partners chooses to exit.
The Browse project includes the Brecknock, Brecknock South and Tarosa (formerly known as Scott Reef) fields, estimated to contain reserves of over 20 trillion cubic feet of gas and 300 million barrels of condensate. The fields are located approximately 400 kilometres north, northwest of Broome in Western Australia.
The initial development concept for Browse involves offshore facilities and two LNG processing trains, each with a capacity of 7 MMt/a.
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