Woodside receives approval for NWS project extension

Woodside received environmental approval for the North West Shelf (NWS) extension project from the Western Australian Government.

The State’s decision begins again the Federal environmental approvals process, which was paused while appeals were being considered, the operator said in a Dec. 12 release.  

Following 6 years of assessment and appeals, the state environmental approval is an important step to enable the long-term processing of North West Shelf Joint Venture field resources and third-party gas resources through the Karratha Gas Plant, said Woodside executive vice-president and chief operating officer, Australia, Liz Westcott.

As part of the approval, which would grant environmental clearance to the operator to continue its North West Shelf LNG project until 2070, Woodside committed to a range of environmental management measures, including a ‘significant’ reduction in air emissions such as oxides of nitrogen and volatile organic compounds as well as greenhouse gas emissions management measures to reduce emissions over time.

Woodside would be required to submit a report within 1 year and every 5 years thereafter, detailing measures to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Woodside is operator of the North West Shelf Project with joint venture partners BP Developments Australia Pty Ltd., Chevron Australia Pty Ltd., CNOOC, Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd., and Shell Australia Pty Ltd.