Woodside Energy has cautioned that its proposed $30 billion Browse gas project faces significant uncertainty amid intensifying political and industrial friction over Western Australia’s energy policy.
The warning comes as a lobby group representing the state’s largest gas consumers, including Wesfarmers and Yara, publicly accused the company of exploiting weaknesses in the state’s domestic gas reservation framework.
The escalation highlights a growing rift between major industrial users and the state’s primary gas producer.
The consumer lobby argues that Woodside is leveraging loopholes in the once-vaunted reservation scheme, which was designed to secure affordable domestic supply for local industry.
This dispute threatens to complicate the regulatory environment for new upstream investments in the region.
Compounding the pressure, the Australian federal government is currently evaluating the impact of a proposed federal domestic gas reservation scheme on Western Australia.