Greenpeace Australia Pacific believes Woodside cannot be trusted when it comes to our oceans, reefs and marine life.
Introduction
Woodside’s Burrup Hub, Australia’s largest proposed fossil fuel project, presents a severe threat to our oceans, wildlife and climate. Woodside, known for its poor environmental and safety record, plans to extract gas from six fields off the coast of Western Australia. This mega-project involves constructing extensive undersea infrastructure and extending the life of existing gas plants until 2070, locking Australia into the use of toxic gas long after we should have transitioned to clean energy.
Environmental Risk
An oil spill from the Burrup Hub threatens 54 endangered species, including the critically endangered pygmy blue whale and green sea turtle. Gas flaring and lights disrupt turtle nesting, while subsidence threatens critical habitats. Shipping and drilling activities endanger whale migration pathways. A disaster at the project site could devastate marine ecosystems and coastlines as far as East Timor and Indonesia, causing long-term environmental damage.
Climate Impacts
Emissions and methane leaks from the Burrup Hub’s operations will worsen Australia’s climate crisis. Greenpeace’s own analysis has revealed that Woodside’s Burrup Hub is Australia’s biggest climate threat, set to release 6.1 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions over its proposed 50-year lifetime. Lifetime emissions from the Burrup Hub would be more than 13 times Australia’s annual emissions from all sources (and more than 73 times New Zealand’s annual emissions). This will not only impact Australia’s net zero commitments but also have far-reaching consequences globally.
Concerning Safety Risks
Woodside has a troubling history of environmental neglect, and has experienced at least six major incidents in the last decade, including an explosion, oil spill and whale calf collision. Additionally, it consistently fails to clean up its waste. Given this track record, why should we expect the Burrup Hub to be any different?
Woodside’s Troubling Record
‘Explosion’ at Pluto LNG plant
In May 2023, an ‘explosion’ at the Pluto LNG plant caused the site to temporarily shut down during planned maintenance. Woodside had previously advised locals that it would be flaring gas and to expect ‘unusual dark smoke’ during the maintenance period. Unions accused Woodside of seeking to downplay the significance of the incident.
Woodside’s offshore rig leaks in the Cossack field
In 2016, one of Woodside’s oil rigs in the Cossack field, off the Dampier Peninsula, leaked 10,500 litres into the ocean. The source of the 175-litre-per-day leak was later found to be a degraded seal on a subsea hydraulic control line located on the rig. A spokesperson for Woodside claimed there was “no lasting impact to the environment”.
Woodside attempts to abandon decaying fossil fuel infrastructure in the ocean
When Woodside finished extracting oil from the Enfield field in 2018, it left behind the Nganhurra Riser Turret Mooring (RTM), an 83-metre-long, 2,452-tonne piece of infrastructure. The offshore regulator, NOPSEMA, chastised Woodside for failing to maintain the RTM.
In 2019, NOPSEMA ordered Woodside to remove the RTM. In 2021, Woodside proposed to sink the RTM, which reportedly contains toxic fire retardant foam, not far from biodiversity hotspots Ningaloo Reef and Exmouth Gulf. By 2022, the RTM had started taking on water and begun sinking. Woodside finally removed it in October 2023.
Woodside cuts maintenance budget despite multiple warnings
Woodside has been repeatedly warned by the offshore regulator, NOPSEMA, over its failure to properly maintain its aging offshore oil and gas rigs from corrosion. Nonetheless, in June 2021 Woodside announced that a 30% cut to operating costs will take place over three years. CEO Meg O’Neill was reported as saying, ‘a key focus area for us is maintenance which accounts for a significant portion of our production cost’.
The warnings continued. One week after Meg O’Neill’s announcement, NOPSEMA ordered Woodside to analyse the structural integrity of fourteen 24-tonne caissons located beneath its North Rankin A Platform. NOPSEMA warned that ‘loss of hydrocarbon (gas and condensate) from these pipelines may result in a major accident event.
Also in 2021, propane pipework at Woodside’s North West Shelf facility was found to have corroded to half the original wall thickness. In 2023, a NOPSEMA inspection of the North Rankin Complex concluded the ‘Flare Bridge and Flare Support Structure (including Guy Wires) to be defective in many places as a consequence of inadequate maintenance’.
Woodside contractor hits whale calf
In August 2023, a whale calf was hit by a tugboat operated by a Woodside contractor in the Port of Dampier. The collision, confirmed by the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA), was only made public when a local reporter made inquiries.
Woodside uses a legal loophole to dump the Northern Endeavour
In 2015, Woodside used a loophole to sell the aging Northern Endeavour oil vessel to “a small, inexperienced, financially weak one-person company”, Northern Oil and Gas Australia (NOGA). Woodside had left the Northern Endeavour corroding over time, in preparation for its decommissioning. But when presented with an opportunity to offload it, they used a complex web of legal maneuvers to transfer title to NOGA, using a loophole to escape the usual assessment of the capacity of a new entity to safely operate and decommission an oil rig. NOGA even ‘inherited’ Woodside ‘oil response plan’ for the Northern Endeavour, despite having never operated an offshore drill rig before, and not having the capacity for responding to an oil spill that Woodside relied upon when drafting the original plan. In response, NOPSEMA issued an escalating series of breach notices to NOGA, who were eventually forced to cease operations at the Northern Endeavour, and promptly went bankrupt, passing the liability for decommissioning to the Federal Government. This debacle led to a change in laws to establish trailing liability and decommissioning bonds. The Northern Endeavour incident shows the poor corporate behaviour of Woodside, and their willingness to use whatever legal means they have available to avoid responsibility for decommissioning, regardless of the environmental risk it creates.
