[en] One of the world's great sources of natural gas is promising immense opportunities for the development of feedstock for petrochemical industries. The lures for new players to Western Australia are world-class offshore natural gas fields that already supply major Australian and international customers, and close proximity to Asian markets. It produces a wide range of hydrocarbon products, ranging from more than 7.5 million tonnes of liquefied natural gas a year, to more than 50 million barrels of oil and condensate and 650,000 tonnes of liquefied petroleum gas a year and 4.5 bcm (500 million standard cubic feet) of piped natural gas for local markets per day. The development of this wide range of products began with establishment of the venture's first offshore gas and condensate production platform, then the biggest in the world, in the mid - 1980s