GLADSTONE community leaders are hailing Royal Dutch Shell's plan to buy the BG Group, and with it the QCLNG plant in Gladstone, as "great news".

Deputy Mayor Matt Burnett told The Observer he couldn't wait for the takeover to be completed.

"This is a wonderful thing for Gladstone," he said.

"It means a third train will potentially be built on the site - and possibly a fourth one as well - which represents a huge benefit to our community."

Mr Burnett said there were obvious issues with the current gas price, but once that was over a new processing train was pretty much on the cards.

"It's something that our community can manage with no difficulty," he said.

"Building an additional train on one of the current sites will create nothing like the disruption that was created when all three gas companies decided to build at the same time."

Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Rick Hansen had a similar view.

"We always thought that Arrow (owned by Shell and Petro China) might become involved with one of the other companies," he said.

"It was pretty obvious that they weren't likely to go ahead with a plant of their own, so in some respects this move comes as no real surprise.

"However, the real surprise is the scale of the takeover - it's one of the biggest ones in the world. I don't think many would have expected this development."

While the thought of a third train is still speculation, Mr Hansen said Gladstone was always looking at expansion opportunities.

"It would be a big boost to the region's economic environment," he said.

"It's always a good thing to keep Gladstone moving forward. This could well have a very positive effect on our community as a whole.

"We promote ourselves as an industrial town. As long as we can maintain our current social liveability levels, we would welcome any new industry."