The federal government stamped its environmental approval Thursday on the Chevron-led Wheatstone liquefied natural gas project that experts said would lead to billions of dollars of investments but could disrupt the marine ecosystem off the coast of Western Australia's Pilbara region.

With the go-signal announced by Environment Minister Tony Burke, U.S. energy behemoth Chevron and its partners in the giant LNG project, namely Apache, Kuwait Foreign Petroleum Exploration Co. and Royal Dutch Shell, could soon commence construction of the facilities that are set to produce some 8.9 million metric tonnes of LNG each year.

Chevron, according to Burke, will be under stringent environmental rules that call for close monitoring and management of the facilities' offshore and onshore installations, including the accommodation and processing areas.

As mandated by the project's environmental clearance, Chevron and its partners, Burke said, will be governed by 70 specific conditions meant to ensure that the area's overall marine ecosystem will not be disturbed or compromised.

"Chevron will be required to submit for my approval a range of plans and programmes detailing how the project impacts on protected matters will be minimised," Burke said in a statement reported by Agence France Press.

Dredging operations in the area will be optimised and restricted to protect marine and migratory species, said Burke, who added that "dredging can only take place outside the coral-spawning period."

The government noted on its report that the surrounding area of the Wheatstone LNG project serves as the natural habitat dugongs, marine turtles, sawfish, dolphins and whales, all of which will be protected despite protests by environmental groups against the natural gas facilities.

Chevron Asia-Pacific President Melody Meyer hailed the approval and said that once fully operational, the LNG project would "meet long-term demand growth for cleaner burning fuel in the Asia-Pacific region."