Woodside Petroleum (ASX: WPL) announced on Friday that it got on Thursday the go signal from its joint venture partner to proceed with the $2.5-billion natural gas fields project.

The venture will supply the operating North West Shelf gas-export project and build a domestic plant. The first phase o the Greater Western Flank project would result in the development of the Goodwyn GH and Tidepole fields which Woodside, as operator, plans to begin operations in early 2016.

Woodside Chief Executive Peter Coleman said the project would continue to maximise the value of existing infrastructure by maintaining offshore supply to the Karratha Gas Plant and support North West Shelf's current marketing efforts for domestic gas and liquefied natural gas.

The project accounts for 40 per cent of Australia's oil and gas production, although its gas reserves are slowly running out.

Woodside owns a 16.67 per cent stake in the JV, the remaining shares are held by BHP Billiton, British Petroleum, Chevron, Royal Dutch Shell and a Japanese consortium.

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