Australia has given the final approval for the North West Shelf Project Extension that will see the operating life of the country’s biggest and oldest LNG plant extended to 2070.
Woodside’s North West Shelf gas processing plant in Karratha, Western Australia, the country’s first and largest LNG plant, can now operate until 2070, after Australia’s federal Environment Minister, Murray Watt, gave the final approval on Friday, with 48 strict conditions that will avoid and mitigate significant impacts to the Murujuga rock art.
The project’s operator, Australia’s top gas producer Woodside, first proposed the extension of the operating life of the North West Shelf Project back in 2018. State and federal governments have been reviewing the plans to extend the life beyond 2030, as it was originally planned, amid hundreds of appeals by activists campaigning to preserve the environment and the cultural heritage of the local people.
Extending the environmental consent for the project, which began producing gas in 1984, means that Woodside and its partners in the project would continue to deliver gas using existing infrastructure.
The project will be required to reduce its emissions every year and reach net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 under the Albanese Government’s strengthened Safeguard Mechanism, the minister said in a statement.
Woodside and the North West Shelf Joint Venture welcomed the Australian Government’s final decision to grant environmental approval for the North West Shelf Project Extension.
“This final approval provides certainty for the ongoing operation of the North West Shelf Project, so it can continue to provide reliable energy supplies as it has for more than 40 years,” said Liz Westcott, Woodside Executive Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Australia.
Energy companies operating in Australia are looking to boost domestic gas output as supply in major consuming areas is often strained at peak demand periods.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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