Backwards step in approvals makes gas supply difficult: Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill
Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill says delivering new gas supplies has become more difficult after a Labor-Greens deal failed to fix the offshore gas approvals system.
Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill says delivering new gas supplies has become more difficult after a Labor-Greens deal failed to fix the offshore gas approvals system, as she called for a “reset” in the energy and climate debate.
The Albanese government last week withdrew legislation that would have closed a legal avenue exploited by environmentalists to curtail new LNG developments, after striking a deal with the Greens for support of its wider legislative agenda.
But the decision has caused uproar within the industry, with Chevron also warning the move had dimmed its appetite for future investment needed to safeguard tens of thousands of jobs and regional energy security.
Ms O’Neill will use her position as chair of Australian Energy Producers to tell the industry’s annual conference in Perth on Tuesday that it was disappointed by the political decision.
The move “has come at the expense of addressing the ambiguity in the consultation process for offshore approvals,” Ms O’Neill will say.
“Leaving this issue unresolved makes the timely development of new energy supply more difficult. And the industry stands ready to work with the government to progress these necessary reforms as soon as possible.”
MST Marquee energy analyst Saul Kavonic said the decision “imperils” every offshore gas project in Australia, including Woodside’s $20bn Browse and Santos’s $US2bn ($3bn) Dorado developments along with the ability to keep the $100bn-plus Gorgon, Wheatstone and Ichthys LNG projects running. Government sources said it did not abandon the pledge, and rather would continue to consult and refine it, so it could pass through parliament.
The government had assured the industry earlier this year it would move to define who offshore gas developers would need to consult, after Santos suffered damaging delays when Indigenous claimants alleged the company had failed to consult with them prior to works beginning on its $5.7bn Barossa project.
Ms O’Neill also said she “firmly” believed the nation needed a reset in the energy and climate conversation.
“And it must be based on the science of climate change. When we as industry leaders speak, we are scrupulously careful to do so accurately and transparently,” Ms O’Neill said. “And that is as it should be – society deserves the truth. I believe critics of our industry would do well to take a similar approach.”
Ms O’Neill was targeted by protesters outside her home last year, with the Disrupt Burrup Hub group fighting the planned expansion of energy projects on the Burrup Peninsula in WA’s Pilbara region.
The protest attracted condemnation from both sides of politics and business organisations at the time, with opposition communications spokesman David Coleman even calling for a Senate inquiry into the matter.
Carbon capture and storage, held up by the oil and gas industry as a vital cog to cutting pollution, was backed by the federal government at last week’s budget despite stuttering progress delivering projects to date.
“Delivering the new energy economy will require a scaling up of carbon management solutions,” Ms O’Neill will say. “So it is pleasing to hear the government’s strong endorsement of the role carbon capture and storage can play in reducing the emissions intensity of natural gas production and the potential for CCS to reduce emissions in hard to abate industrial processes like steel and cement manufacturing. We know this technology works.”
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