Perth Now: Sleeping giants square off in gas wars
Cheaper gas and lots of it. Reduced electricity prices and royalties flowing, like rivers of gold, into the coffers of the WA Government to fund myriad infrastructure projects at some point in future.
It might read like any Premier's fantasy, but the bounty locked in deep geological formations beneath the west Kimberley is the stuff dreams are made of.
Or nightmares, depending on your outlook. If the potential of the Canning Superbasin is to be realised, environmentalists say thousands of wells will have to be sunk.
And extracting much of the gas will require hydraulic fracture stimulation the controversial drilling practice better known as "fracking".
Fracking creates fractures in rock formations that hold unconventional gas. Opponents say toxic chemicals used in the process poison surrounding ground water.
Industry and environmental groups are fiercely divided on the impacts, but there's no disagreement on the phenomenal interest the Canning Basin is attracting, both at home and abroad. MORE