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Gas announcements 'pre-empting approvals process'
By Chris Logan

Posted 4 hours 11 minutes ago

Map: Gladstone 4680 Conservationists say the Queensland Government is putting itself under pressure to approve a liquefied natural gas (LNG) project.

The BG Group yesterday revealed it had signed a heads of agreement to supply Tokyo Gas with 1.2 million tonnes of LNG a year from a planned facility off Gladstone in central Queensland.

The gas would come from southern Queensland, but the project still needs environmental approval.

Queensland Conservation Council executive director Toby Hutcheon says the Government faces a conflict of interest.

"Given that these announcements generally are by the company and the Government, we can only conclude that it's the Government who are creating the community expectation around these projects," he said.

Mr Hutcheon says it is hard to stop the project going ahead considering the Government also made an announcement.

"Essentially these announcements are pre-empting an approvals process. The reality is they're creating an expectation of revenue, creating an expectation about jobs ... that makes it very, very difficult for the Government to then stop an approvals process," he said.