Whitby lauds new blood to speed WA environmental approvals
The WA environment minister wanted to tackle bureaucrats "at the desk doing the same thing for 15 years, telling people why something can't be done."
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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.
120 articles -
WoodsideEnergy
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.
95 articles -
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.
90 articles -
=== 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.
56 articles -
Safety
The Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety oversees workplace health and safety in WA and NOPSEMA is responsible for offshore workers in Commonwealth waters.
41 articles -
Federal Government
The Federal Government controls offshore oil and gas production outside of nearshore State waters and determines emission and climate policy.
38 articles -
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.
38 articles -
Decommissioning
Oil and gas producers are required to plug and abandon wells and remove equipment when production ends.
36 articles -
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.
36 articles -
Analysis
Insights from Boiling Cold, piecing together not just what is happening in WA energy and climate, but why.
33 articles -
net-zero 2050
Net-zero carbon emissions are required to meet the Paris Agreement aim of limiting global warming to close to 1.5℃.
32 articles -
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.
32 articles -
Renewable Energy
Renewable energy in WA comes mainly from rooftop solar panels and wind farms.
32 articles -
WA Government
WA has been governed by Labor since 2017, led first by Mark McGowan and then Roger Cook.
31 articles -
NOPSEMA
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.
29 articles -
Oil
Oil production in WA comes from condensate produced with gas for LNG plants, dedicated production vessels and onshore wells on Barrow Island.
28 articles -
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.
27 articles -
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.
26 articles -
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.
25 articles -
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.
24 articles -
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.
24 articles -
Scarborough LNG
Woodside's Scarborough gas project will export gas through an expanded Pluto LNG plant.
22 articles -
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.
22 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.
22 articles -
Peter Coleman
Peter Coleman led Woodside from 2011 after 26 years at ExxonMobil. He retired in mid 2021.
20 articles -
Newsletter
All the info and a bit of comment on WA energy, industry and climate every Friday
20 articles -
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 -
Ichthys LNG
The Inpex-operated Ichthys LNG project produces gas offshore WA's Kimberley and pipes it 900km to an LNG plant near Darwin.
19 articles -
BHP
Melbourne-headquartered global miner BHP's most important asset is its Pilbara iron ore operation.
18 articles -
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.
18 articles -
Coal
Coal is produced in WA in just two mines near Collie and almost all of it is used to generate electricity in power stations in Collie. State -owned Synergy plans to shut nothing its coal-fired power stations by 2029.
17 articles -
COVID-19
The 2020 outbreak of the COVID-19 virus caused unprecedented health, social and economic upheaval in WA and across the world.
17 articles -
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.
16 articles -
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 -
SWIS
The South West Interconnected System serves the most populated part of WA with Western Power's network linking power generators and customers.
16 articles -
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.
16 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.
16 articles -
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.
15 articles -
WA EPA
The WA Environmental Protection Authority reviews the environmental impacts of all sizeable developments and makes non-binding recommendations to the WA Minister for Environment.
15 articles -
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 -
DEMIRS
The WA Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety promotes and regulates the State's mining and petroleum industries, produces energy policy, and provides safety and consumer protection regulation to other sectors.
14 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 -
Wheatstone LNG
The 8.9 million tonnes a year Wheatstone LNG plant near Onslow operated by Chevron started production in 2017.
12 articles -
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.
12 articles -
Barossa LNG
Santos' CO2-rich Barossa field will supply gas to its Darwin LNG plant.
11 articles -
Collie
Collie in WA's South West with two mines and three power stations is dependent on coal production that will decline with the rise of cleaner renewable energy.
11 articles -
Pluto LNG
The Woodside-operated Pluto LNG plant on the Burrup Peninsula started production in 2010.
11 articles -
Mark McGowan
Mark McGowan was WA premier from 2017 to 2023.
9 articles -
Keith Pitt
Keith Pitt is a Liberal National Party MHR from Queensland and was Federal Minister for Resources and Water from 2020 to 2022.
9 articles -
Regulatory Reform
Regulatory reform of industry at both State and Federal level is normally a tussle between business wanting less and other groups in society demanding more.
9 articles -
AEP
Australia Energy Producers, formerly th Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association, is the lobby group for oil and gas producers in Australia. In WA it backs massive offshore LNG projects, Perth Basin gas and fracking in the Kimberley.
8 articles -
BP
In WA BP has one-sixth of the North West Shelf LNG project, is the major shareholder in the Browse LNG project, operates the Australian Renewable Energy Hub and if developing new energy projects a its shattered Kwinana oil refinery.
8 articles -
Iron Ore
Iron ore from the Pilbara is WA's biggest export and the mainstay of mining multi-nationals BHP and Rio Tinto.
7 articles -
Offshore Alliance
The Offshore Alliance of the Maritime Union of Australia and the Australian Workers Union covers workers on oil and gas platforms and vessels off the Australian coast and increasingly the onshore oil and gas workforce in WA.
7 articles -
Energy Transition
7 articles -
Australian Renewable Energy Hub
The Australian Renewable Energy Hub is a $US36 billion plan to export 10 million tonnes a year of green ammonia from the Pilbara, powered by 28 gigawatts of solar and wind energy. Its operator and major shareholder in BP.
7 articles -
ExxonMobil
ExxonMobil has for more than 50 years operated and owned half of the Bass Strat oil and gas operation off the Victorian coast. The US firm also owns 25 per cent of the Chevron-operated Gorgon LNG project in WA.
6 articles -
FMG
Fortescue founded and chaired by Andrew Forrest, is Australia's third-largest iron one miner and is expanding into green power and hydrogen, aiming to have zero emissions by 2030.
6 articles -
Waitsia
The Waitsia gas project in the Perth Basin is jointly owned by Beach Energy and the operator Mitsui.
6 articles