Woodside tips in cash as Labor fights to get its employee into parliament
WA Labor has used the advantages of incumbency to raise $1.6 million since May, ahead of a by-election in the once safe seat of Secret Harbour.
The Perth-based LNG specialist operates the North West Shelf and Pluto LNG projects and is developing the Scarborough and Browse fields. It also has a 50 per cent stake in ExxonMobil's Bass Strait operation and substantial interests in the US and Mexico.
Woodside boss Peter Coleman said the military of Myanmar where Woodside operates "weren't being heard" and staging a coup was a "difficult decision" for the generals.
Woodside wants to sanction its $US11.4 billion Scarborough LNG project in 2021, but a legal challenge to regulatory approval for years of carbon emissions could put it in a two-year legal limbo.
Woodside's own lack of maintenance means it cannot dispose of an 83m-long structure onshore as planned and will instead sink it to be an artificial reef near the Ningaloo Marine Park
The Conservation Council has launched legal action against Woodside and the WA Government that may reopen environmental approvals essential to the Scarborough and Browse LNG projects.
The Northern Endeavour saga gets murkier: court battles, Cabinet confidentiality, unspecified environmental problems and maybe a hefty bill for big oil and gas.
Chevron has another pressure vessel to worry about, this time on the Wheatstone platform, after Gorgon LNG production was slashed this year to fix faulty welds.
Resources Minister Keith Pitt plans to stop big oil companies passing on decommissioning liabilities and make them contribute to the Northern Endeavour decommissioning bill.
With only one growth option Woodside is selling Scarborough LNG hard, but is it a sensible investment in a world moving to tougher action on climate?
Tomorrow Peter Coleman must convince investment analysts that Woodside has a credible growth plan with Scarborough LNG, and that will take more than spin about a few approvals.
The Government has 'screwed up' with the Northern Endeavour oil vessel says Sen. Rex Patrick and the loophole that might cost $370 million remains five years after it was spotted.
Japan's JERA, the major buyer of Australian LNG, has embraced zero emissions by 2050 in another signal that the clock is ticking on this major export.
Prospects for LNG are under a shadow if Paris Agreement emissions cuts are pursued, according to the IEA, leaving Woodside and Santos in a very dark place.
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