Source : BUSINESS NEWS
Woodside Energy has labeled recent Australian political rhetoric “encouraging” as it progresses a plan to tie a field back through its North West Shelf plant, currently in approvals limbo.
The company’s quarterly report detailed progress on long-lead items for the Greater Western Flank phase four project, a five-well subsea tie-back through NWS offshore facilities.
Woodside said the extension would support the delivery of additional gas into the Western Australian market to meet projected shortfalls – and was subject to a final investment decision in the second half of 2025.
It comes amid the uncertainty which is engulfing a plan to extend the life of the NWS gas plant.
Woodside first applied for an approval to extend the life of the 40-year-old plant in 2018 and was granted state approvals last year.
But has had a federal deadline for a decision repeatedly pushed back and will now come after the election.
Approvals to extend the life of the North West Shelf plant have been a hot topic in the lead up to the vote in May, with suggestions that the process has become politicised and that the project’s status could be compromised if a Labor minority government takes power.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor last week labelled the saga “a disgrace” on a visit to Perth, and the Coalition has committed to approving the project within 30 days, if elected.
Woodside weighed in on the political climate in its quarterly report.
“As Australia approaches a federal election, it is encouraging to see both major parties recognising the essential role of gas in supporting national prosperity and a stable energy transition,” Ms O’Neill said.
“We look forward to certainty for ongoing operations at the North West Shelf beyond 2030, to enable it to support thousands of direct and indirect jobs, billions in taxes and royalties, and secure future gas supply to Western Australia.”
The comments come of the back of a quarter in which Woodside’s production fell 4 per cent off the back of weather impacts which hindered the NWS project and unplanned outages at Pluto.
The company produced 49.1 million barrels of oil equivalent, against output of 51.4MMboe in the prior quarter.
Pluto LNG’s reliability fell below 90 per cent during the period because of three unplanned train outages.
“Facility performance continues to be proactively monitored to minimise the risk of future unplanned outages,” Woodside said, noting the issues were rectified within days of each outage.
North West Shelf achieved reliability of 96.5 per cent.
Woodside is also in the process of bringing its long-awaited Scarborough project into production in the second half of 2026 and making ground on its Louisiana LNG project in the United States – a project it says will make it a “global LNG powerhouse”.
The producer sold down 40 per cent of the infrastructure at Louisiana on April 7, and said it was exploring further selldowns.
The impacts of US tariffs on the project are yet to be determined.
“Louisiana LNG has a foreign-trade zone, enabling the project to defer payments of tariffs until completion of each LNG train,” Ms O’Neill said.
“We are assessing the potential impacts of recent tariff announcements and potential further trade measures on Louisiana LNG.”
Ms O’Neill said Woodside expected to source around half of the materials and equipment required for the project from the US market.
Woodside shares were up 2.8 per cent this morning, to $20.27.
