Woodside CEO left shaken and fearful by actions of ‘extremist’ group

In her first public remarks since activists were arrested outside her home, Meg O’Neill says the incident was ‘unacceptable’.

In her first public remarks since the incident, Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill said the events on Tuesday were unacceptable. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Nikki Short

Meg O’Neill, the chief executive of Woodside, said she has been left shaken and scared after protesters attempted to trespass onto her home in Western Australia, as she labelled the group “extremists” with no interest in serious debate about the energy transition.

Woodside is the crosshairs of climate activists as it pushes ahead with several major fossil fuel projects in Australia and in emerging markets.

Woodside has insisted gas is a transitional fuel and a global energy shock illustrates there is insufficient renewable energy generation.

It has said it will invest billions of dollars in renewable energy to meet its net zero emissions by 2050 targets, but critics insists it is exacerbating global emissions and is making little progress in transitioning away from fossil fuels.

The oil and gas giant has been the subject of an increasingly number of protests, which Woodside has said it will consider legal action in response, but animosity between the two groups escalated this week when protesters were arrested outside of Ms O’Neill's house in the Perth suburb of City Beach on Tuesday when the Woodside executive and her family were home.

Police allege the protesters had spray paint and one had planned to lock herself to the house to cause a disruption. The group, which were accompanied by journalists from the Australian Broadcasting Corporation, had allegedly even scoped out the property in the days beforehand.

Criminal charges have been laid against the climate activists.

In her first public remarks since the incident, Ms O’Neill said the events on Tuesday were unacceptable.

“It does not matter if you are a member of the business community, a professional athlete or even a kid going about your business, everyone has a right to feel safe in their own home,” Ms O’Neill said on Friday.

“What happened in my home on Tuesday is an unacceptable escalation in activity by an extremist group which has absolutely no interest in engaging in respectful and constructive debate around Woodside’s role in the transition to a lower carbon world.”

Ms O’Neill did not name the protest group, but all three members arrested outside her home are believed to be members of the Disrupt Burrup Hub group – which has vowed to oppose the expansion of any energy projects on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s Pilbara region. Woodside’s $16.5bn Scarborough and Pluto Train 2 projects run through the region. The company is targeting 8 million tonnes a year of new gas from offshore wells starting in 2026.

It is not the only fossil fuel development Woodside is working on. In June, Woodside approved the development of its $US7.2bn ($10.5bn) deep water oil project in the Gulf of Mexico, which it expects to begin production in 2028.

The investment in fossil fuels far exceeds Woodside’s spend on low carbon energy. Woodside has spent about $US100m on potential new opportunities in low-carbon energy, but it insists it is on course to rapidly increase investment to $US5bn to clean energy ventures by 2030.

Woodside is also under pressure from shareholders to demonstrate its commitment to making its net-zero emissions target.

The energy group last year received the largest vote against its Climate Action Transition Plan, with just shy of half of its shareholders voting against the plan.

Originally published as Woodside CEO left shaken and fearful by actions of ‘extremist’ group