The 50:50 JV between ConocoPhillips and Origin Energy was hoping to secure offtake agreements and make a final investment decision on the project before the end of the year.
However, late yesterday Federal Environment Minister Tony Burke delayed his decision on whether to approve the two-train project from December 21 to February 22 due to the scale and complexity of the project.
In a letter to the JV, Burke noted that the extension was not for the purpose of seeking further information, but rather to allow sufficient time for a full assessment of the project. The Christmas and New Year holiday period was also a factor.
APLNG received Queensland government environmental approval last month after an extensive consultation process and was hopeful of gaining federal approval before the end of the year.
BG Group and Santos received federal environmental approval for their coal seam gas-to-LNG projects in October, with BG making FID soon after. Santos has said it plans to make FID before the end of the year.
In a statement APLNG project director Page Maxson said federal approval was the next step for the project in order to pave the way for FID.
"The project will not be able to proceed to FID until, at least, such time as the EIS approval process is complete."
APLNG will involve the development of a 14-15 million tonne per annum CSG-LNG project on Curtis Island, with first production targeted for 2014.
Meanwhile, investment bank JP Morgan has raised concerns about Queensland's $50 billion CSG industry, saying the industry has significant water risks, an unknown impact from growth and is a potential risk to public safety.
AAP quoted the report as saying the costs involved in developing the projects are likely to blow out because of environmental concerns.
In recent months, concerns have been rife about the effects of CSG drilling on groundwater supplies in Queensland. The concerns were further fuelled by the discovery of traces of BTEX (benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene and xylenes) in exploration wells fracced by the APLNG JV.
Subsequent chemical analysis of the samples confirmed the fracture stimulation operations have not affected landholder water bores and none of the samples showed unsafe levels of the chemicals.
The report went on to say that the water risks could translate into government intervention, changes to regulations and potential disruption to long-term gas supply contracts.
In a third quarter conference call in late October, ConocoPhillips chief executive officer Jim Mulva said the groundwater contamination scare at APLNG's operations in the Surat Basin was not affecting discussions with potential LNG buyers.
Shares in Origin Energy were relatively unchanged this morning at $17.15.
