WA gas users launch Mia Davies at Woodside to pry more supply from Pluto
Woodside's Pluto project is delivering a tiny sliver of gas to WA compared to other exporters, but the Domgas Alliance wants to change that.
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LNG
Australia is the one of the world's biggest producer of liquefied natural gas. The North West Shelf, Pluto, Gorgon, Wheatstone, Prelude and Ichthys LNG projects source their gas from the waters off WA.
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Woodside Energy
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.
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Carbon Emissions
WA is the only State where greenhouse gas emissions have risen since 2005, the Paris Agreement baseline, mainly due to an expanded LNG industry.
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From the archive
Still relevant past stories brought out from behind paywalls
84 articles -
Chevron
US oil and gas supermajor Chevron is the major LNG producer in WA with its Gorgon and Wheatstone LNG projects and a share in the North West Shelf project.
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Gas
Most gas in Western Australia is produced offshore and exported as LNG, with some reserved for domestic use. Production from the onshore Perth Basin is increasing. WA is the most gas-dependent state in Australia.
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Safety
The Department of Local Government, Industry Regulation and Safety oversees workplace health and safety under WA legislation, and NOPSEMA is responsible for offshore workers in Commonwealth waters.
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Federal Government
The Federal Government controls offshore oil and gas production outside of nearshore State waters and determines emission and climate policy.
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Decommissioning
Oil and gas producers are required to plug and abandon wells and remove equipment when production ends.
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Gorgon LNG
Chevron's Gorgon LNG project on Barrow Island began operating in 2016 has the world's largest carbon capture and storage system dedicated to emissions reduction.
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Domestic Gas
Domestic gas, or domgas, in WA comes from gas LNG producers are required to reserve for the local market and smaller domestic gas-only projects.
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Analysis
Insights from Boiling Cold, piecing together not just what is happening in WA energy and climate, but why.
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Renewable Energy
Renewable energy in WA comes mainly from rooftop solar panels and wind farms.
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Western Australian Government
WA has been governed by Labor since 2017, led first by Mark McGowan and then Roger Cook.
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National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority
The Perth-based National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority is the independent health, safety and environmental regulator for oil and gas in Commonwealth waters.
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Oil
Oil production in WA comes from condensate produced with gas for LNG plants, dedicated production vessels and until 2025, onshore wells on Barrow Island.
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Climate Change
WA is particularly susceptible to climate change with South West rainfall already hard-hit yet it is the only State with rising carbon emissions.
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Hydrogen
Green hydrogen produced with renewable energy is seen as a significant future fuel for industry and long-distance transport. Most hydrogen is currently made from methane and emits significant carbon emissions. When a portion of those emissions are captured and stored it is termed blue hydrogen.
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net-zero 2050
Net-zero carbon emissions are required to meet the Paris Agreement aim of limiting global warming to close to 1.5℃.
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Power Generation
Power in WA's South West is generated by State-owned Synergy and private companies while the State's Horizon Power and miners cover the rest of the State.
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North West Shelf LNG
The Woodside-operated North West Shelf project near Karratha exported Australia's first LNG cargo in 1989 and now has four gas export trains and a domestic gas plant. In 2024 and 2025, respectively, the WA and Federal governments approved its operation until 2070.
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Northern Endeavour
Northern Oil and Gas Australia bought the Northern Endeavour floating oil production vessel in the Timor Sea from Woodside in 2016 and went into liquidation in early 2020. The Federal Government is now decommissioning the project, financed by a levy on offshore oil and gas production.
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Alcoa
US company Alcoa mines bauxite in WA's south west where it risks Perth's water supply and struggles to rehabilitate the jarrah forest. Two refineries produce alumina for export.
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Santos
Adelaide-based Santos owns the Varanus Island and Devil Creek domestic gas projects in the North West and is developing the Dorado oil field off WA and the Barossa LNG project into Darwin.
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Scarborough LNG
Woodside's Scarborough gas project will export gas through an expanded Pluto LNG plant.
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INPEX
Japanese INPEX operates the Ichthys LNG project with offshore facilities off the Kimberley coast, an LNG plant in Darwin and headquarters in Perth. It also has a stake in Shell's Prelude floating LNG vessel.
23 articles -
Shell
Anglo-Dutch Shell operates the Prelude floating LNG facility off the Kimberley coast and owns 25% of the Gorgon LNG project and a slice of the North West Shelf.
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WA Environmental Protection Authority
The WA Environmental Protection Authority reviews the environmental impacts of all sizeable developments and makes non-binding recommendations to the WA Minister for Environment.
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BHP
Melbourne-headquartered global miner BHP's most important asset is its Pilbara iron ore operation. It mothballed its WA nickel mining and refining business in 2024.
21 articles -
Newsletter
All the info and a bit of comment on WA energy, industry and climate in your inbox every Friday
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South West Interconnected System
The South West Interconnected System serves the most populated part of WA with Western Power's network linking power generators and customers.
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Ichthys LNG
The INPEX-operated Ichthys LNG project produces gas offshore WA's Kimberley and pipes it 900km to an LNG plant near Darwin.
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Peter Coleman
Peter Coleman led Woodside from 2011 to 2021 after 26 years at ExxonMobil.
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Carbon capture and storage
Chevron's CO2 injection on Barrow Island for the Gorgon LNG project is WA's only carbon capture and storage project. It is the world's largest CCS project dedicted to burying greenhouse gases, not increasing oil production.
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Browse LNG
The Woodside-operated remote Browse gas fields off the Kimberley coast have been planned to supply various LNG projects over two decades without success, held back by cost, distance and a high level of carbon dioxide in the gas. BP is the major shareholder.
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Prelude LNG
Shell's Prelude floating LNG facility off the WA coast, that is the worlds largest vessel, has struggled to produce reliably since mid-2019.
19 articles -
Wind Power
Often blowing when the sun is down, wind is a renewable energy resource WA has in abundance, especially in the Mid-West region near Geraldton.
18 articles -
Coal
Coal is produced in WA in just two mines near Collie, operated by Griffin Coal and Premier Coal. Almost all of it is used to generate electricity in three power stations in Collie. State-owned Synergy plans to shut its two coal-fired power stations by 2029.
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Solar Power
Solar panels on more than 500,000 rooftops in WA has at times met more than 80 per cent of demand in the South West.
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COVID-19
The 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 virus caused unprecedented health, social and economic upheaval in WA and across the world.
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Wheatstone LNG
The 8.9 million tonnes a year Wheatstone LNG plant near Onslow operated by Chevron started production in 2017.
17 articles -
Bauxite
Bauxite is strip-mined in WA's jarrah forest by Alcoa and South32 to feed three alumina refineries that produce the material for aluminium smelters.
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WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration
The WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration oversees regulation and policy for the state's resources sector. Before 2025 it was the part of the Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety.
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Ammonia
Ammonia is normally used to make fertiliser and explosives but is increasingly considered as a means to store, transport and use green hydrogen made with renewable energy or blue hydrogen made from gas with carbon storage.
16 articles -
Alumina
Alcoa and South 32's Worsley Alumina mine bauxite in WA's South-West to produce alumina that is exported to aluminium refineries. The industry is energy-intensive mining in the jarrah forest is facing significant opposition on environmental grounds.
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EXCLUSIVE
Stories that would not see the light of day without Boiling Cold.
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Industrial Relations
Most industrial relations in WA comes under Federal law and workers are covered by awards, enterprise bargaining agreements or individual agreements.
14 articles -
Barossa LNG
Santos' CO2-rich Barossa field will supply gas to its Darwin LNG plant from 2025.
14 articles -
Pluto LNG
The Woodside-operated Pluto LNG plant on the Burrup Peninsula started production in 2010.
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Synergy
Synergy is a WA State Government-owned power generator and retailer operating on the South West grid. It has a monopoly on supply to households and small businesses, two coal-fired power stations in Collie and numerous gas-fired power stations. Through Bright Energy Investments it has interests in wind and solar farms.
13 articles -
Energy Transition
The switch from fossil fuels to renewable energy is vital for limiting the damage from climate change and is increasingly the most economically sound choice.
12 articles -
Iron Ore
Iron ore from the Pilbara is WA's biggest export and the mainstay of mining multi-nationals BHP and Rio Tinto.
12 articles -
Bill Johnston
Bill Johnston was the Minister for Mines and Petroleum and later Energy in the Labor WA Government from 2017 to 2023.
12 articles -
Collie
Collie in WA's South West, with two mines and three power stations, is dependent on coal production that is declining with the rise of cleaner renewable energy.
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BP
In WA, BP owns one-sixth of the North West Shelf LNG project, and is the major shareholder in the Browse LNG project. In 2025 it pulled out of the Australian Renewable Energy Hub and stopped developing hydrogen and biofuel projects on the site of its shuttered Kwinana oil refinery.
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Mining
WA is the world's largest supplier of iron ore, lithium and garnet, the second-largest for diamonds and alumina, and in the top five for cobalt, gold, rare earths and zircon.
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Fortescue
Fortescue, founded and chaired by Andrew Forrest, is Australia's third-largest iron ore miner and is expanding into green power and hydrogen, aiming to have zero emissions by 2030.
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Keith Pitt
Keith Pitt was a Liberal National Party MHR from Queensland and Federal Minister for Resources and Water from 2020 to 2022.
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Mark McGowan
Mark McGowan was WA premier from 2017 to 2023.
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Aboriginal heritage
Preserving Aboriginal heritage is now taking centre stage when planning resource developments in WA both onshore and offshore.
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