THE Queensland Government has granted environmental approval for the $15 billion Arrow Energy LNG project to be built in Gladstone.

The project, which will be the fourth LNG development on Curtis Island, near Gladstone, will raise the investment in the Queensland sector to about $75 billion.

It must now get approval from the Federal Government before the company’s owners, Shell and PetroChina, give their own financial approval, which is not certain.

The Government must also now give approval to the company’s coal seam gas proposal which is based on some of the state’s best cropping land near Dalby as well as in the Bowen Basin.

The Coordinator-General released his evaluation report on the Environmental Impact Statement today and Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney said the decision was important in the progression of the massive project, which would provide a much-needed boost to the state’s economy.

“While Arrow still has some work to do, with financial close and CSG supply components to be finalised, it certainly reinforces Curtis Island and Gladstone as the Pacific LNG hub,” Mr Seeney said.

“Should Arrow proceed, it will be the fourth LNG plant on Curtis Island with a peak workforce of about 3500 construction jobs and about 450 operational jobs for Stage One, increasing to 600 on the completion of Stage Two.

Mr Seeney said Arrow proposed a facility that would produce up to 18 million tonnes of LNG a year through a staged development.

“The three LNG plants currently under construction on Curtis Island provided thousands of jobs during the construction phase and will provide substantial income to the state through royalties,” he said.

“There are more than 7600 tradespeople out of a total of 10,148 people working on the Curtis Island projects.”

Mr Seeney said it would now be up to the Federal Government to consider potential impacts to the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area and other matters of national environmental significance and make its decision within the statutory 30 business days.