PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Oil and gas major Woodside is adamant about adding the Browse liquefied natural gas (LNG) project to its production portfolio, with the company’s active executive VP for Australian operations, Mike Price, saying it would bridge a forecast supply gap in the Western Australian energy sector.

Speaking at the AOG Energy expo, Price pointed out that Browse was Australia’s largest untapped conventional gas resource and would be necessary to develop in order for Woodside to sustain ongoing operations, including its Karratha gas plant (KGP).

“In the 2030s Browse could also deliver a significant volume of domestic gas, which is roughly equivalent to the forecast shortfall of over 200 TJ/d that was projected in December 2022 Western Australian Gas Statement of Opportunities,” Price said.

“Of course, browser's going to need an effective greenhouse-gas solution, so we've incorporated carbon capture and storage infrastructure into the Browse development concept,” he added.

The Browse joint venture includes the development of the Brecknock, Calliance and Torosa fields 425 km north of Broome, and in 2018 the project partners selected the Browse to North West Shelf (NWS) project development concept to progress into the definition phase.

The development concept would include two floating production storage and offloading facilities delivering 11.4-million tonnes a year of LNG and domestic gas and a near 900 km pipeline to existing NSW project infrastructure.

Price said on Wednesday that in addition to its base oil and gas businesses, Woodside was also working hard to expand new energy products which it could offer to new and existing customers.

“We're doing this in line with our climate strategy to reduce our own net equity Scope 1 and 2 emissions and invest in the products and services our customers need to secure their energy requirements and reduce their emissions. Woodside has targets to reduce our net equity Scope 1 and 2 emissions by 15% by 2025, 30% by 2030, towards our aspiration to achieve net zero by 2050 or sooner.

“We've also set a target to invest $5-billion in new energy products and lower carbon surfaces by 2030,” Price said.

The new energy projects include the H2Perth and H2TAS hydrogen projects in Australia, and the H2OK project in the US.