PETROCHINA Co and Royal Dutch Shell Plc have gained approval from China's National Development and Reform Commission for their A$3.4 billion (US$3 billion) joint bid for Australia's Arrow Energy Ltd.

The NDRC's approval cleared the deal's last major regulatory hurdle.

Arrow shareholders also voted in favor of the takeover offer at a shareholders' meeting yesterday, the Australian firm said in a statement. The deal is subject to approval by the Federal Court of Australia and is expected to be finalized by the end of July.

The bid was first announced in early March. Under the agreement, a 50-50 joint venture owned by PetroChina and Shell will acquire Sydney-listed Arrow, excluding its international assets. Arrow claims to have the largest reserves of coal seam gas (CSG) in Queensland state.

On successful completion of the acquisition, the joint venture will own Arrow's CSG assets in the state and domestic power business as well as Shell's CSG assets in the state and its site for a proposed liquefied natural gas plant on Curtis Island at Gladstone.

PetroChina, the nation's top oil and gas producer, said earlier it will deepen its footprint in CSG, a trapped store of natural gas well below the Earth's surface and a new and under-utilized energy source, to reduce reliance on coal and crude oil.

"The company aims to boost the coal seam gas production to 4 billion square meters per year," Chairman Jiang Jiemin said.

PetroChina and Arrow will develop CSG in China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region.