Garrett treads cautiously on LNG hub

The federal government says there is still some way to go before a proposed liquefied natural gas project in the Kimberley region is approved.

A group representing the traditional owners of the Kimberley region has agreed with the state government on a site for the proposed processing hub.

But federal Environment Minister Peter Garrett says a number of important steps remain before the hub gains any final approval.

"There is a number of important steps in the chain that remain to the Kimberley gas project," Mr Garrett told reporters in Adelaide on Friday.

"Yes, it's good to see that there is an agreement that has been struck.

"But the environmental assessment process still has some way to go.

"And I must say again that my expectation is that it won't be completed until 2010.

"We will make sure that we comprehensively and rigorously have an assessment that deals with the environment of the region and the potential impact on matters of national environment significance that a hub of this kind might have.

"It still has some way to go yet."

On Wednesday, the traditional owners in the Kimberley region gave in-principle approval for a LNG hub to be built at James Price Point, just north of Broome.

The approval is subject to outcomes of cultural and environmental studies.

Yesterday, Woodside Petroleum named the hub as its preferred location for the development of a processing facility for the Browse Basin project, however the joint venture parties have yet to agree on a location.

The other option for the project is to process the Browse gas at Woodside's operated facilities in Karratha.