Woodside Signs $30B Native Title Deal

Woodside Petroleum (ASX:WPL) has signed a $30 billion agreement with native landowners to develop the Browse Basin liquefied natural gas export project in Kimberley, Western Australia.

Under the agreement with the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr Aborigines, Woodside pledged more than $1 billion to the native communities in the form of education, housing and initiatives, spread over 30 years.

The deal "also recognises the importance of the area to the Goolarabooloo Jabirr Jabirr native title claimants and underscores Woodside's commitment to an environmentally, socially and culturally responsible development," said Woodside.

The agreement that plans to profit from gas and condensate fields in the Browse basin comes after negotiations that stretched for two years. It includes offshore extraction and production facilities and onshore LNG and condensate production facilities, among others.

Premier Colin Barnett of Western Australia supported the deal and said the LNG precinct would "significantly improve" the lives of Aborigines in Kimberley and "boost economic growth."

"For the first time in a native title agreement, benefits will not only go to the affected native title group, but also be directed to indigenous people of the Dampier Peninsula and the wider Kimberley region," said Barnett.

Not everyone is pleased about the development, however. Joseph Roe, a Goolarabooloo man, launched a legal challenge, but the Federal Court dismissed the case.