The West Australian government has given final environmental approval for the $25 billion Chevron-led Wheatstone liquefied natural gas (LNG) project in the state's north-west.

 

WA Environment Minister Bill Marmion says approval has been granted with 25 conditions protecting marine fauna, including whales, turtles and dugongs.

 

The proposed LNG plant, with a projected capacity of 25 million tonnes per annum, will be built 12km south of Onslow in the Pilbara.

 

The environmental conditions stipulate immediate suspension of dredging if coral outside defined zones is damaged, no night blasting during peak nesting and hatching seasons for marine turtles and no piling work at night during the southern whale migration.

 

The approval also requires $13 million in environmental offsets, including $3.5 million over four years to improve management of critical habitats for humpback whales, dugongs and snubfin dolphins in Pilbara waters.

 

It requires reductions in greenhouse gas emissions through offsetting about 2.6 million tonnes per year of reservoir carbon dioxide emissions.

 

Chevron Australia managing director Roy Krzywosinski welcomed the approval and said the company looked forward to a environmental approval from the federal government.

 

A final investment decision on the project is expected later this year.

 

The Wheatstone onshore foundation project is a joint venture between the Australian subsidiaries of Chevron (73.6 per cent), Apache (13 per cent), Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Company (7 per cent) and Shell (6.4 per cent).