Australia’s Woodside Energy Faces Opposition Over Carbon Sequestration Plans

The Australian government’s call for two weeks of public consultation starting January 2 on Woodside Energy’s plans to sequester CO2 as part of the Browse project off Western Australia has met with opposition from environmental groups. The consultation period enables interested parties to voice their opinion on whether or not an environmental impact statement is required.

The proposed Browse carbon capture and storage (CCS) project would capture a compressed CO2 stream from onboard the two FPSOs proposed as part of the Browse to NWS Project. Woodside, as operator, is proposing to develop the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa conventional natural gas fields located in the offshore Browse Basin, approximately 425km north of Broome.

The proposal calls for infrastructure to transport, inject and permanently sequester up to 270 mmscfd (~14,200 tonnes of CO2 per day) into the Calliance Storage Formation (near Scott Reef) at an expected annual average injection rate of 3-4 million tonnes per annum (mtpa).

The Browse to NWS Project is expected to produce approximately 80 million tonnes of reservoir CO2 over its lifetime. The Browse CCS project would be designed to capture and permanently sequester, at a minimum, 85% of the CO2 removed from reservoir fluids. This is expected to reduce GHG emissions from the project by approximately 53 million tonnes (47%).

Australia’s Greens party said the carbon “dumping” plans were released while many Australians were off work for summer holidays. “Woodside’s attempts to now use carbon dumping to try and secure approval for the high emissions Browse gas field to be developed at Scott Reef sits in stark contrast to their earlier public admissions,” said the party in a statement.

The Greens are calling for the public consultation period, which closes Thursday January 16, to be extended and for the application to undergo a full environmental assessment.

Acting Greens Leader Senator Sarah Hanson Young said: “Woodside’s blatant attempt at greenwashing their polluting projects will not stop extinctions and will not protect our oceans and climate. Dumping carbon pollution under Scott Reef would put already endangered species like the green sea turtle, pygmy blue whale and the dusky sea snake at serious risk. This wildlife needs urgent protection, not more destruction and pollution in the places they call home.”

Documents uncovered under FOI by Greenpeace show that the federal government has already warned Woodside of numerous environmental risks from its plans including CO2 toxicity, risks of earthquakes, risks of leakage and marine impacts of ongoing seismic blasting.

Geoff Bice, WA Campaign Lead at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said CCS is an expensive distraction that fossil fuel corporations use to greenwash their emissions. “Woodside has already tried unsuccessfully to push through carbon dumping plans for Browse and was provisionally knocked back by the federal environment department, who highlighted the risks of the new technology to our oceans and protected animals, as well as the risk of the injection site failing.

“Ultimately, if we are serious about tackling climate pollution and reducing emissions this decade, we must stop emissions before they are produced. CCS is a failed experiment and has not been proven to work at the scale required to tackle the climate crisis anywhere in the world.”

The Guardian reports a Woodside spokesperson as saying the Browse gas project aligned with “key policy statements of both the Western Australian and Australian governments which recognise the pivotal role of natural gas in Australia to 2050 and beyond.”