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Black Mountain Energy is a largely US-owned company headed by Rhett Bennett seeking to use fracking to produce gas in WA's Kimberley region.
Investors beware: after spending more than $40 million in the Canning Basin, the US-owned company's continued pursuit of remote gas appears to be throwing good money after bad.
The WA government will soon decide whether Black Mountain Energy can frack 20 wells near the Kimberley's Fitzroy River, but promised measures to protect the environment and the rights of local people are not yet in place.
The green light for Black Mountain Energy comes just months after Federal experts said its environmental risk assessment was "limited and disjointed" and reached "largely unsupported" conclusions.
An independent review found Black Mountain conducted a "limited and disjointed" assessment that came to "largely unsupported" conclusions.
Black Mountain's conclusion that its drilling will not affect water resources is without foundation, and threatened species and National Heritage are at risk, according to the Federal environment department.
A company with less than $5 million in the bank and a boss who lives in the US will soon get a red or green light from WA's environment watchdog.
Black Mountain expects the McGowan Government to soon waive its gas export ban but fracking the gas must wait for two years of environmental studies.
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