Woodside Energy: Former WA premier Colin Barnett warns energy giant faces Juukan moment without new NW plant

Former WA premier Colin Barnett has urged Woodside Energy to build a new gas plant in Port Hedland, arguing the Browse field needs its own processing facility away from the Burrup rock art activists say is imperilled by industry. Mr Barnett said Woodside executives were kidding themselves if they believed the Federal Government’s recent green light for the North West Shelf expansion meant the rock art controversy had ended. “They will come to regret this decision,” Mr Barnett said. “The rock art issue is not going to go away. It will eventually be a bigger issue than Juukan Gorge was for Rio Tinto and look what happened to Rio’s board after that. The Woodside board should consider that history. ”Juukan involved the destruction of a few rock shelters; with Burrup we are talking about a million separate carvings.” Mr Barnett, who as resources minister in Richard Court’s Liberal government locked industry out of 62 per cent of the Burrup peninsula, said he supported the extension to 2070 of the NWS for gas from existing acreage but a greenfield development was needed for Browse. The gigantic development comprises the Calliance, Brecknock and Torosa gas and condensate fields, 425km north of Broome. “The Browse field is far bigger than people realise,” he said. “It is a resource that will last for decades. The enduring nature of that field will make processing it at the North West Shelf an enduring problem for Woodside. “The activism that we have seen over the past couple of years is not going to end just because the State and Federal governments have endorsed the expansion plan. “The intensity of opposition may get to the point that a left-leaning future government decides to shut the whole thing down.” Mr Barnett saw how effective environmental activists could be when the WA government-backed plan to build a gas plant at James Price Point was abandoned in the face of an onslaught of protests. That experience as premier saw him switch tack and promote Port Hedland, 240km from Karratha, as an alternative for Browse. “Woodside doesn’t own the gas,” Mr Barnett. “It belongs to the government and the government is empowered to ensure the resource is used for the economic development of the State. “They will need to balance commercial reality with that broader economic goal but there is room to move on this one. Browse is an enormous resource and Woodside will make an enormous amount of money from it. “A new plant would diversify Port Hedland’s economy. The town has existing transport and port facilities. It has an existing workforce. “Woodside will say it is too expensive but if you look at what the company is doing in the US, they are clearly OK with capital expenditure on new projects. “A smallish Pluto-sized plant with capacity to expand would be a better option than the Shelf. “New plants are more efficient and cleaner. It also removes the issue Woodside has with the joint venture partners at the North West Shelf, who have never really understood the politics of the domestic market.” Woodside, which holds a 30 per cent stake in the NWS and is the licensed operator of the facility, declined to comment on Mr Barnett’s critique of the plan to process high-CO2 gas from Browse at the existing plant. The company spent seven years trying to win approval from the State and Federal governments to expand the 40-year-old plant. Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt gave the final tick of approval this month, imposing 48 conditions he said would protect the 50,000-year-old rock art on its doorstep. The conditions are additional to those imposed by the WA Government and include continuous monitoring of emissions and reductions of some gases by as much as 60 per cent below current levels. The decision drew immediate fire from the green lobby, which attacked the Albanese Government for exempting industrial emissions from an Aboriginal cultural heritage declaration designed to protect the art.