"I think Browse will go ahead," he told the Australian Financial Review.

"The Japanese are shareholders and the Japanese want the gas. Japan is the most vulnerable consumer of gas at the moment."

Barnett said gas demand would continue to outstrip supply and downplayed possible impacts from American LNG projects.

"The US might export 60 million tonnes or 70 million tonnes [of LNG], a small share of world supply," he told the newspaper.

Woodside CEO Peter Coleman has praised the decision to abandon the former onshore LNG plant plans for the Browse project as oil prices continued to fall in December.

An unnamed Sydney-based analyst also told the same newspaper that the Browse project was "dead and buried" in relation to the low oil price cutbacks that await the industry this year.

The Japanese joint venture MIMI (Mitsui and Mitsubishi), bought a 14.7% stake of the Browse project in 2012.

A final investment decision for the long-delayed project is most recently expected to take place in the second half of 2015.

The project is targeting up to 11.7 million tonnes per annum of LNG and 66,000 barrels of condensate per day over a 40-50 year life and hosts about 14.9 trillion cubic feet of dry gas and 441.2 million bbls condensate in resources.

Also in Browse FLNG JV are Shell, BP and PetroChina.