State-owned oil producer PetroChina has agreed to pay $1.6bn for a 10 per cent stake in an offshore Australian natural gas project, underscoring China’s growing appetite for investment in gas developments around the world.

BHP Billiton, the Anglo-Australian miner, yesterday said it would sell its holdings in the Browse liquid natural gas project in Western Australia to Hong Kong-listed PetroChina, one of the world’s biggest oil and gas producers.

BHP’s decision to sell its 8 per cent stake in the East Browse project and its 20 per cent share of the smaller West Browse site – equivalent to a tenth of the overall Browse development – comes a week after Chevron announced a $15bn cost over-run at its Gorgon gas facility. The Australian LNG industry has been dogged by high labour costs, the strong Australian dollar and infrastructure bottlenecks.