Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says he is not concerned by federal Environment Minister Greg Hunt’s decision to hold off approving a fourth coal seam gas (CSG) export project in central Queensland.

Mr Hunt was due to decide this week on Arrow Energy’s proposed liquefied natural gas (LNG) export plant near Gladstone but the approval deadline has been pushed back until December.

Mr Seeney says the timing is not critical because Arrow’s CSG production wells in southern Queensland are not approved either.

“These processes have to be thorough and we’re certainly confident that our processes at a state level are thorough,” he said.

“I don’t think there’s any urgency for the approval of the Arrow project on Curtis Island.

“The Arrow project still has an enormous amount of work to do in regard to its upstream infrastructure, so there’s no time urgency in regard to that project.”

He says the projects all have to go through the same comprehensive approvals process.

“[This] is part of the reason why I’m not concerned for the time line of the Arrow plant on Curtis Island,” he said.

“It’s only one part of a very large project and there’s a lot of work to do yet before the Arrow project is anywhere near receiving all the approvals that they need.”