CURTIN PROFESSOR SEES NO FUTURE FOR SCARBOROUGH LNG

A 2021 protest against the Scarborough gas project at the Burrup Peninsula.

A sustainability expert said Woodside’s offer to ship gas to eastern Australia had not been taken seriously by Government.

“It’s not going to be their future,” he said. “They know they’ve got to transition away from this and solar and electric’s by far the cheapest for everything, and that’s what the transition is all about. So you are finding that all the states are saying that, all the utilities are saying that. Even the Federal agencies are saying that.

“So the transition’s under way, it’s happening quicker than most people thought was possible. There will be a bit of an interim phase where there may be some issues but already they are getting over the problems in the east.”

John Curtin distinguished professor Peter Newman said Woodside, which plans to expand it’s Burrup Peninsula facility into the new Scarbourough gas field, needed to have new conditions set as part of its final approvals.

“The reality is natural gas will not be seen as clean unless it is fully carbon neutral,” he said. “And to get carbon neutral status you have to have it properly certified, independently verified and science based. This is not what Woodside has done.”

Prof Newman said the world was moving away from gas as a fuel.

“2030 is essentially the end of its transition period and from there to 2050 there must be a complete phase out,” he said. “The world is on track for that. If you look at the projections that Woodside are talking about, they’re just coming on stream in 2030 and by 2050 they’re still expanding. That will never happen.”