Woodside to move out of gas hub

The remote north-west site earmarked for a controversial gas hub is being decommissioned after more than five bitter years of protests, court cases and a failed push from Colin Barnett to see it built.

Woodside Petroleum started removing infrastructure and equipment last weekend and began rehabilitating areas where work was carried out to support the technical and commercial evaluation of the proposed Browse LNG development at James Price Point, 40km north of Broome.

The premier rallied for the on-shore project to process gas from the Browse Basin but he was humiliated in August when Chief Justice Wayne Martin found the environmental approvals essential to the development were unlawful.

Mr Barnett argued the gas hub would bring economic prosperity to WA and the region, and offered millions of dollars to the traditional owners through benefits and the native title agreement.

Previous site works, including installation of infrastructure and equipment such as fences, gates, a meteorological tower, groundwater monitoring bores and production bores were carried out under a combination of local government, State Government and heritage approvals.

About 20 hectares of native vegetation was cleared to support the work.

A number of geotechnical, geophysical, hydrogeological and environmental studies were undertaken within the site of the State Government's planned LNG precinct area from 2011.

Site rehabilitation activities will start on the weekend and are scheduled to be completed before end of year.

The work includes decommissioning and removal of infrastructure, including a meteorological tower, fencing and gates; the removal of groundwater bores; land rehabilitation, including landform shaping; weed removal; revegetation, including mulching and spreading of topsoil; and collection and management of seed bank material.

Woodside said the work would be carried out in accordance with the conditions of relevant approvals and permits previously obtained.

The company said it would continue to meet its cultural heritage obligations, including obtaining a heritage clearance permit and inviting traditional owners to monitor the site rehabilitation activities.

A monitoring program will be carried out in the three years after the start of rehabilitation activities.

These follow the decision by the Browse joint venturers to select floating LNG as the preferred development concept, using Shell's FLNG technology and Woodside's offshore development expertise to progress the basis of design work for the Browse development.