AsianOil: Woodside secures environmental approval for Scarborough gas project

Australia’s Woodside Energy has received approval from the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for its environmental plan for offshore work at the Scarborough gas project in Western Australia. The work involves installing a trunkline from the Scarborough floating production unit (FPU) and interaction with the seabed in an area where there are several marine parks.

Work is to be carried out over 24 months and involves connecting the FPU to a second LNG train under construction at the existing Pluto LNG onshore facility. The pipeline will be 430 km in length and the NOPSEMA approval provides for several hundred metres of clearance on either side of the infrastructure.

The project has been strongly opposed by environmental groups, who cite the dangers to marine life and the expansion of hydrocarbon production in a period when numerous global organisations are calling for a reduction in the use of fossil fuels.

If you’d like to read more about the key events shaping Asia’s oil and gas sector then please click here for NewsBase’s AsianOil Monitor.