BP has stood down contractors working on its biofuel plant just weeks before discovering if its adjacent green hydrogen project will win $1 billion of government backing.
WA environment minister Reece Whitby has signed off on continued export of gas from Woodside's North West Shelf natural gas plant until 2070 despite it being surrounded by ancient World Heritage-listed rock art.
The decision on Thursday is a big win for Woodside and its joint venture partners BP, Shell, Chevron and Japan Australia LNG.
The partners still need approval from Federal environment minister Tanya Plibersek whose decision either way would enrage some voters ahead of a likely May 2025 federal election.
Both approvals would allow the NWS partners to push back the expensive decommissioning of Australia's oldest and largest liquefied natural gas plant that started exporting 35 years ago. They will also be able to earn revenue from processing gas from third parties as supply for their original North West Shelf fields continues to decline over this decade.
Woodside chief operating officer for Australia Liz Westacott said Woodside looked forward to the finalisation of the federal approval to provide certainty for the long-term operation of the plant.
"We are committed to ensuring we continue to meet all environmental requirements," she said.
Those conditions will not cover greenhouse gas emissions after the WA government decided to leave that to the federal government. However, emissions of so-called NOx and SOx (nitrous and sulphur oxides) that are linked to the degradation of the rock art are regulated.
Woodside is required to reduce emissions of NOx and dangerous volatile organic compounds by 2030 and comply with any requirements from the ongoing Murujuga Rock Art Monitoring Program which is expected to release its next public report in 2025.
Browse the big prize for Woodside
Thursday's decision is also a vital milestone for Woodside's controversial Browse LNG project that would drill for gas near the pristine Scott Reef and then pipe the gas 1000km to the North West Shelf plant on the Burrup Peninsula near Karratha.
Greenpeace Australia chief executive David Ritter said over the weekend its full line Browse would result in 6.1 billion tonnes of carbon pollution, mainly from customers burning its gas, which is 13 times bigger than Australia's current annual emissions.
“The approval for the North West Shelf extension flies in the face of the clear scientific evidence about the incompatibility of new fossil fuels with a safer climate," he said.
"Tanya Plibersek has to now take responsibility for this decision at a Federal level."
Browse is owned by three NWS investors - Woodside, BP and Japan Australia LNG - and PetroChina. Whitby's decision allows the Browse field to be developed without building an expensive processing plant to freeze the gas to a liquid for export.
The plant was built on top of a portion of the sprawling collection of more than one million ancient rock engravings that cover the peninsula that traditional custodians call Murujuga.
There are significant scientific concerns that emissions from the ageing plant may be damaging the 30,000-year-old World Heritage-listed rock art.
Other gas producers in WA would welcome the continued operation of the NWS plant as even if Browse goes ahead, it would have significant spare export capacity.
Producers of gas in the onshore Perth Basin - Gina Rinehart's Hancock Energy, Kerry Stoke's Beach Energy, Japan's Mitsui and Strike Energy - would all be interested in accessing to the higher price intentional market.
Recently, the Cook Labor Government banned the export on onshore gas from 2030 to preserve fuel for the local market, but future governments will come under relentless pressure to reverse the ban.
Smaller companies exploring for gas in the remote Canning Basin in the Kimberley, such as Black Mountain, would also be buoyed by the decision as there is a negligible market for their product nearby. They still face the significant hurdle of finding sufficient volumes of gas to justify a pipeline south to Karratha.
Unlike the Perth Basin, significant gas production in the Kimberley would require hundreds if not thousands of wells using the controversial fracking, or hydraulic fracturing, technique.
In April Woodside chief executive Meg O'Neill said she would welcome the opportunity to help them unlock their gas reserves.
Environs Kimberley chief executive Martin Pritchard said such development would transform the landscape into a "fragmented fossil fuel industrial zone " and " would be an environmental and climate disaster for the region, destroying its global reputation as a tourism icon."
I worked in oil & gas in commercial and engineering roles for 20 years. Since 2016 I have written for The West Australian, The Saturday Paper, RenewEconomy, Michael West, Boiling Cold and WAtoday.
