BOC plans to extract helium from the LNG processing facility's vent gas which otherwise would be vented to the atmosphere. In the process, the company will generate itself a $20 million annual revenue.

The plant is an excellent example of value adding, and also reduces the cost on the environment of the waste gas from the LNG plant, according to BOC.

A company spokesperson said there had been minimal community concern. The plant would be on the same site as the Darwin LNG plant, there would be no waste water discharge and the feedstock was the vent gas from the LNG plant.

“Because ConocoPhilips has done such a thorough job on the Environmental Impact Assessment, and we are located on the same site with no added output, we have not had to submit a separate EIS, which helps to have the project commissioned as soon as possible,” the spokesperson said.

Construction was planned to start in 2006. BOC said while some of the equipment was highly specialised and would need to be imported, contracts for structural steel, mechanical pipe and storage tanks would hoped to be let to Northern Territory companies.

The plant is due to be commissioned in 2007. It will occupy a small footprint of 22,500 square metres (150m x 150m) and built upon dry rainforest but without any disturbance to the Middle Arm Peninsula Mangroves.

Helium is the coldest known substance, becoming liquid at -260 deg centigrade and is used extensively in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), optical fibre manufacturing, deep sea diving and as an inert shielding gas in the arc welding process.