Climate Activists Occupy Woodside’s Floating Gas Platform

Greenpeace activists boarded Woodside Energy’s enormous floating production facility at the Scarborough gas field on Oct. 17, prompting operations at the offshore site to be temporarily halted.

The action unfolded about 375 kilometres from Karratha, off the coast of Western Australia. Campaigners climbed onto the 70,000-tonne structure to protest the project’s anticipated greenhouse gas emissions and its potential effects on nearby marine ecosystems.

One of the activists, Chris Holden, said the demonstration was intended to draw attention to the risks facing Scott Reef. Located roughly 300 kilometres from the Kimberley coast, the remote coral atoll supports ecologically significant habitats that environmental groups fear could be harmed by industrial activity and climate change.

The Scarborough development is expected to begin producing liquefied natural gas for export by the end of the year. Valued at approximately A$18.6 billion, the project is designed to supply as much as eight million tonnes of LNG annually to overseas customers. It could also deliver up to 225 terajoules of gas each day to the domestic market.

Climate impact remains contested

Environmental organisations have argued that the development will lock in decades of additional fossil fuel production. A 2021 assessment by the Conservation Council of Western Australia and The Australia Institute estimated that emissions associated with Scarborough could reach 1.6 billion tonnes over the project’s lifetime—an amount they compared with the pollution from 15 new coal-fired power stations.

The same analysis described Scarborough as Australia’s most emissions-intensive proposed fossil fuel development. It projected that the project could add about 4.4 million tonnes to Western Australia’s annual emissions, representing an increase of nearly 5 percent.

Woodside disputes this characterisation. The company says the project has undergone extensive environmental scrutiny and maintains that its gas will be among the lowest-carbon LNG supplies produced in Australia.

The floating production unit reached the Scarborough field in January after a two-month tow from China. Its arrival marked a major step toward commercial production at the offshore development.

Safety response initiated

Following the activists’ entry onto the platform, Woodside said it activated its incident-management procedures. The company described the boarding as unauthorised and said its immediate priority was protecting both the campaigners and workers while limiting further risks at the facility.

The protest highlights the widening conflict over Australia’s gas expansion. Supporters present new LNG projects as sources of domestic supply, export income and energy security, while climate campaigners warn that long-lived gas infrastructure is incompatible with rapid emissions reductions and could intensify pressure on vulnerable ecosystems such as coral reefs.