The behaviour of activists in targeting the private home of Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) Chair Meg O’Neill is unacceptable and strongly condemned by Australia’s oil and gas industry.
That’s what APPEA Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said in a statement sent to Rigzone, adding that APPEA and its members “are united in calling out the menacing and threatening behaviour of activists who targeted Ms O’Neill, her partner, and daughter”.
“The industry respects the rights of protesters to demonstrate legally in public places, but the private homes and families of business leaders should clearly be out of bounds,” McCulloch said in the statement.
“This is a deplorable escalation of the intimidation and tactics used by activist groups to stifle informed public debate on the energy transition,” McCulloch added.
APPEA describes itself as the peak national body representing Australia’s oil and gas exploration and production industry. The group’s member companies produce around 95 percent of Australia’s oil and gas, according to the organization’s website, which notes that APPEA supports net zero across the economy by 2050.
In addition to being the Chair of APPEA, O’Neill is the CEO and Managing Director of Woodside. O’Neill was appointed Woodside CEO back in August 2021.
In a statement posted on its Twitter page commenting on the incident, activist group Disrupt Burrup Hub (DBH) said, “a peaceful Disrupt Burrup Hub protest action was intercepted by around a dozen counter-terrorism police officers who were laying in wait at the scene”.
“Officers arrested three peaceful climate campaigners at the home of Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill, including a 19-year-old woman, all of whom remain in police custody this afternoon [August 1]. They have since been charged,” DBH added in the statement.
“Following the early morning incident, WA Police arrested two further peaceful campaigners, both of whom had their homes raided and devices seized,” DBH continued.
In the statement, a DBH spokesperson said, “it is deeply troubling that a dozen WA Police officers were present ahead of an unpublicized, peaceful climate protest”.
“While Disrupt Burrup Hub was prevented from carrying out a peaceful action today [August 1] by heavy-handed, preemptive policing, it was not a failure. In fact, it shows just how successful our campaign is,” the spokesperson added.
Woodside’s Burrup Hub is the biggest new fossil fuel project in Australia, DBH noted in its statement, adding that it consists of the Scarborough and Browse Basin gas fields, the Pluto Project processing plant, and other linked liquified natural gas (LNG) and fertilizer plants on the Burrup Peninsula in Western Australia’s remote north-west Pilbara region.
On its site, Woodside notes that its Scarborough Gas Project helps play a role in the global energy transition, “helping neighboring Asian countries take action on emissions reduction”.
Development of the Scarborough project will include the installation of a floating production unit with eight wells drilled in the initial phase and thirteen wells drilled over the life of the Scarborough gas field, with all wells tied back to a semi-submersible floating production unit moored in 950 meters of water close to the Scarborough gas field, Woodside’s site states.
Approximately five million tons per annum (Mtpa) of Scarborough gas will be processed through Pluto Train 2, with up to three Mtpa processed through the existing Pluto Train 1, the site highlights.
Browse is described on Woodside’s site as Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas resource. Woodside, as operator for and on behalf of the Browse Joint Venture (BJV), is proposing to develop the Brecknock, Calliance, and Torosa fields located approximately 425 km north of Broome in the offshore Browse Basin, the site notes.
The BJV is evaluating a range of options to manage greenhouse gas emissions and is progressing a feasibility assessment for a carbon capture and storage solution and opportunities to improve energy efficiency, the site adds.
To contact the author, email andreas.exarheas@rigzone.com
