Woodside Energy’s Meg O’Neill declares opposing Karratha Gas Plant extension is effectively supporting coal
Woodside boss Meg O’Neill has declared opponents of the Karratha Gas Plant life extension are effectively pro-coal, following reports the project could become a bargaining chip in a hung Parliament.
The company wants environmental approval to run the LNG export plant until 2070, but waited six years for the State Government to give the green light.
Commonwealth approvals have been pushed back a month amid debate over the project’s potential impact on Burrup Peninsula rock art.
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By continuing you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy.Ms O’Neill on Tuesday said blocking the project — which also supplies local gas for WA — would lead to more coal use on the power grid. State-owned coal power stations in WA are set to be shut by the end of the decade, with gas and renewables as replacements.
“The people who are opposing it, they’re just pro-coal,” she told The West Australian.
“At the end of the day if the North West Shelf life approval isn’t extended, the outcome will be more coal in WA’s energy mix for longer.
“The outcome of not granting the approval is more coal.
“All these players claiming they care about the environment, it’s just not true.”
Woodside shut one of the five processing trains at Karratha late last year and the company has been talking to other resource owners to potentially backfill the ageing plant. It would also be used to export gas from the $30 billion Browse project.
Ms O’Neill also lashed comments by Premier Roger Cook that a delay of a few weeks would not be significant.
“It’s already been six years,” she said.
Woodside was considering drilling new wells to pump gas to the project, Ms O’Neill said, which would be impacted by the approval delay.
The project’s impact on rock art — nominated for World Heritage status — has been debated for years and is subject to a State Government-backed monitoring program.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Tuesday knocked back concerns that the approval delay had been in response to crossbench demands.
More to come
