One of Australia’s largest fossil fuel projects is set to be extended beyond its current 2030 expiry date by 40 years.
The Government has approved Australian oil and gas company Woodside Energy’s plan to keep drilling in the North West Shelf on the Burrup Peninsula in north-west WA, under “strict conditions”.
Environmental groups have accused the Government of detonating a “climate bomb”.
It comes amid questions about Australia’s bid to get nearby Indigenous rock art World Heritage listed.
North West Shelf
The North West Shelf has been a site of gas drilling and production since 1984.
The gas it produces is then processed at a plant in nearby Karratha.
- The plant produces two main types of gas for energy usage:
- Pipeline gas is funnelled to the rest of Western Australia.
Liquified natural gas (LNG), cooled natural gas in liquid form, is exported elsewhere, including Japan.
The North West Shelf has become Australia’s largest oil and gas project, led by Woodside — a company valued at $47 billion.
Six years ago, Woodside applied for an extension of gas drilling and production from 2030 to 2070.
Extensions require state and federal environmental approvals.
The state government handed down its approval in December, specifying there would need to be regular air quality monitoring and consultation with Traditional Owners.
Decision
Yesterday, the federal government greenlit extending the project to 2070.
Newly-appointed Environment Minister Murray Watt said there are “strict conditions” attached to the extension. Woodside needs to respond within 10 days.
In a statement, he said the “impact of air emissions on the Murujuga rock art,” a cluster of engravings in the Burrup Peninsula, was part of his decision.
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“I have ensured that adequate protection for the rock art is central,” Watt said.
Murujuga is in the same area as the North West Shelf and is home to some of the oldest rock art on Earth, dating back 50,000 years.
In a separate announcement this week, the United Nations body tasked with listing World Heritage sites released a draft decision on the feasibility of adding the Murujuga Cultural Landscape to its list.
The committee said Australia needs to “prevent any further industrial development” in the area to achieve heritage listing.
Reaction
The Government’s conditional extension of the North West Shelf project has drawn criticism from environmental groups, while the company at the centre welcomed the decision.
Woodside Executive Vice President Liz Westcott said the extension approval supports “thousands of direct and indirect jobs”.
Shadow Environment Minister Angie Bell told the ABC the Coalition supported the government’s move, saying project approvals need to “balance between the environmental sustainability and the economy and jobs.”
The Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) said the Woodside extension would set off a “climate bomb”.
It would become the largest fossil fuel project in the Southern Hemisphere, according to the ACF, and rank within the top 10 most polluting global projects.
Greens leader Larissa Waters called the decision “an epic climate fail”.
She criticised the government for pushing out the decision until after the federal election on 3 May.
“Locking in fossil fuels out to 2070 is not what their voters expected.”
The ACF’s First Nations lead Josie Alec told reporters on Thursday: “The Australian Government’s laws are not strong enough... for the environment.”
“There’s always hope, we have to believe that someone, somewhere is going to stop the idiocy of [destroying] country.“
Alec indicated there could be a legal challenge to the proposed extension.
