Premier Roger Cook has backed Woodside’s controversial Scarborough and Browse projects as part of the regional solution to Asia’s “acute anxieties” around energy supply.
Premier Roger Cook has backed Woodside’s controversial Scarborough and Browse projects as part of the regional solution to Asia’s “acute anxieties” around energy supply.
Speaking in Tokyo on the second day of the government’s mission to Japan, Mr Cook said both liquefied natural gas projects had a role to play in securing the region’s energy future.
“A range of businesses and investment houses have raised the issue of energy security, and the role that Scarborough and Browse will play as part of the supply chain to Japan,” he said.
“Obviously Scarborough has faced some challenges in its second and third stages of that production process, and that’s something we’re calling on the federal government to resolve as soon as possible.
“Browse continues to be assessed by ourselves and the federal government under our various environmental regimes, and we’re looking forward to the assessments of Browse being concluded early 2024.”
Seismic surveying at Scarborough was recently halted after the Federal Court overturned a conditional approval granted to Woodside by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority due to questions over its legality.
The nation’s largest untapped conventional gas resource, Browse is in the environmental approvals process. Woodside’s Liz Westcott called on government and commercial support for the project in a speech to a Committee for Economic Development of Australia event in August.
The comments by Mr Cook come a day after meetings with investors and government delegates, including a meeting with Mitsui & Co, which holds a stake in the Browse project among its many investments in Western Australian resources and energy.
Woodside also sold a 10 per cent stake in Scarborough to LNG Japan – a joint venture of Sumitomo Corporation and Sojitz Corporation – in August this year.
Mr Cook said his meeting highlighted the importance of gas to the energy transition in the region, and that WA could not afford to pursue net zero without considering its neighbours.
“WA’s a trade-exposed economy, so we cannot look at ourselves in isolation to South-East Asia and our trading partners in relation to reaching net zero targets,” he said.
"We need to work with our South-East Asian regional partners to make sure we’re working together, so we’re not simply wrapping ourselves in a blanket of self satisfaction of reaching net zero ourselves if that’s going to be at the detriment of our South-East Asian friends by not assisting them to reach net zero.”
The premier said his conversations had opened his eyes to the importance of WA to the region’s energy security.
“What its affirmed to me is that our long-term friends and trading partners have acute anxieties about energy and energy security,” Mr Cook said.
Japan currently accounts for 41 per cent of WA’s LNG exports.
Mr Cook’s comments came on the same day he hosted a major forum for Japanese business and investors, to promote green industry opportunities in WA.
Attendees included BP Japan, CWP Global, JOGMEC, Kawasaki Heavy Industries, Marubeni Corporation, Mitsui and Tokyo Gas.
The government highlighted developments in lithium hydroxide and rare earth processing, as well as the state’s major hydrogen project pipeline.
Mr Cook said the forum was designed to show Japanese investors that WA was open for business.
