Barrow Island (left), WA with mainland right. Credit: NASA
By Rich Bowden
The newly-approved Gorgon gas project in northwest Australia has been described by environmental group WWF-Australia as the thin end of the wedge for oil and gas development in the region.
WWF-Australia’s Paul Gamblin, WWF’s Western Australia Program Leader said the $50 billion liquefied natural gas project’s official confirmation today by project partners Chevron, ExxonMobil and Shell, would act as a green light to massive development in the northwest of Western Australia.
“Today’s announcement on Gorgon marks the start of a new era of massive oil and gas development in northwest Australia, much to the detriment of the region,” he said in a statement.
Mr Gamblin cited the recent oil spill in the state’s waters as one example of excessive development and called for more restrictions on energy projects.
“Northwest Australia is fast becoming a ‘pin-cushion’ of oil and gas wells, yet there is negligible protection for its tropical wildlife, islands and coral reefs. The recent oil spill is just one example of the risks associated with development in our oceans.”
“Multinational companies have managed to bluff Australian governments into allowing them access to the most sensitive and fragile places. As Australians begin to learn of the majestic tropical wonders and threatened wildlife of northwest WA, this must change,” he added.
WWF-Australia is particularly concerned that the Grade A nature reserve of Barrow Island – described by Mr Gamblin as “Australia’s own Galapagos – would be the site for the project’s processing plant.
Mainstay of economy
However the venture partners point to its economic benefits, which include the creating of 10,000 jobs during construction and 3,000 ongoing positions. They also tout the project’s benefits as an environmental test with the expected use of geosequestration, the pumping underground of carbon emissions from the gas development.
Chevron Australia Managing Director Roy Krzywosinski said he expected Gorgon would be a mainstay of the Australian economy for the next 40 years.
“We anticipate A$33 billion will be spent on Australian goods and services with flow-on effects cascading through the Western Australian economy,” he said in a statement reported by the Wall Street Journal.
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