Woodside's North West Shelf approval just a stepping stone to enable Browse project - 27th May 2025

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-29/woodside-nw-shelf-approval-to-enable-browse-basin-development-/105344468

When all the hype and the fury is stripped away, the decision to extend the life of the gigantic North West Shelf gas plant boils down to one thing.

"It's really all about Browse," says RISC Advisory boss Martin Wilkes in relation to the huge gas field off the Kimberley coast of Western Australia.

Browse is one of the country's biggest untapped resources projects, with gas reserves large enough to meet the equivalent of Australia's entire domestic demand for almost 20 years.

To the Western Australian government and the state's industry, it represents energy security, jobs and billions of dollars of investment.

And for some of the world's biggest oil and gas companies — not to mention Australia's flag-bearer, Woodside — Browse presents as the last great hurrah for the country's gas export industry.

Browse is likely to be the mother-of-all environmental fights — a pivotal clash between those seeking an end to new fossil fuel mega-project and those in the opposite corner.

 Climate groups have labelled Browse a "carbon bomb", claiming the project could lead to emissions of up to 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent over its lifetime — an amount three times Australia's annual pollution output.

 

By piping Browse gas 900 kilometres south and processing it through the North West Shelf, he says Woodside would avoid the need for a new LNG plant that would come at huge cost.