The plant will supply Asian countries with tens of billions of dollars of a fuel that is increasingly in demand as environmental pressures force customers to cut carbon emissions.

It also aims to pioneer technology allowing polluters to bury emissions by injecting them deep into the Earth's crust, an advance the government says could play a major role in the fight against global warming.

"There's a seismic shift underway in energy markets as we slowly move away from the oil- and coal-based world of the last 60 years," said State One Stockbroking analyst Peter Kopetz.

"Customers are looking for greener sources of energy and renewables (such as wind and solar power) aren't there yet, but LNG is a viable alternative."

He said natural gas, once viewed as a useless byproduct of oil production which was simply burned off into the atmosphere, now had the world's energy companies scrambling to set up LNG developments in Australia.

Gorgon's joint-venture partners -- energy giants Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil -- are so confident about the future of LNG that they are investing 43 billion dollars (37 billion US) up-front for the initial construction phase.

ExxonMobil predicts global LNG demand will treble by 2030, providing ample customers for Gorgon, which will generate an estimated 300 billion dollars in export earnings over the next 30 years.

"When you look at our projection for LNG, because it is a cleaner-burning fuel, the demand is growing more rapidly than other (energy) fields," ExxonMobil senior executive Al Hirshberg said.

LNG is natural gas that is chilled to -160 degrees Celsius (-256 Fahrenheit) to reduce its volume for shipping abroad, then turned back into gas at its destination and distributed by pipeline.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd described Gorgon's environmental benefits as "far-reaching", saying that generating electricity with LNG produced up to nine times less emissions that coal-fired power plants.

Hartleys Research oil and gas analyst Dave Wall said demand for LNG had increased as oil and coal prices rose, with its clean-burning properties an added bonus as the world tries to battle climate change.

"Instead of demand for energy being met by coal-fired power stations, it's now more of a mix with LNG in the equation," he said.

Trade Minister Simon Crean said the environmental technology being developed for Gorgon also had the potential to create a leading-edge export industry in its own right.

"This demonstrates Australia's ... ability to play as a global and clean energy superpower," he said.

The technology, known as geosequestration, involves pumping excess carbon dioxide more than two kilometres (1.2 miles) below the ground so it is not released into the atmosphere as pollution.

Small pilot projects have proved successful but Gorgon plans to use the process on an unprecedented scale, dumping 120 million tonnes of carbon dioxide beneath the ground at a cost of two billion dollars.

However, green groups have questioned Gorgon's environmental credentials, objecting to the plant's location on a nature reserve at Barrow Island and questioning the use of untested geosequestration technology.

Kopetz said all indications were that the technology would succeed but there was a chance carbon dioxide could seep out between underground rock strata.

"It's going to be trial end error, we just don't know how things are going to react," he said.

"Maybe 50 years down the track it will be like asbestos back in the 1960s, everyone was using it but then it was realised it causes cancer.

"Maybe 50 years down the track carbon dioxide will start seeping out or affecting the underground environment, no one really knows."

Rudd said earlier this month that Australia could both reap the economic benefits from Gorgon and protect the environment.

"We believe that we've got the balance right," he said.

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