AUSTRALIA

AUSTRALIA -- Domestic gas and LNG projects must have a globally competitive carbon footprint, while hydrogen and carbon capture projects will require strong government financial support, industry executives told a conference in Perth. Meg O'Neill, acting CEO of Woodside, said Australia could "chart a third path” in the global energy transition, differentiating it from the Big Energy model embraced by European majors and the Big Oil model favored by US majors. "Gas has an important role to play to decarbonize the world," she told the annual conference of the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association. However, companies will need to make sure their gas projects have low-carbon emissions to make them socially acceptable at home and in LNG-importing countries. O'Neill said this can be achieved by focusing on development of fields with low-carbon content, designing low-carbon processing facilities, and electrification of operations where possible. Those are all key characteristics of Woodside's proposed Scarborough-to-Pluto LNG project, which is expected to be sanctioned in the second half of this year. Woodside has pledged to achieve net-zero emissions from its own operations by 2050 and will let shareholders cast an advisory vote on its climate report next year.