The Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) share price is edging higher in afternoon trade as we finish the week.
While enthusiastic investors are pushing Woodside shares north, up 0.36% to $22.10, climate authorities have reacted harshly to the latest news on its Scarborough project.
Let's investigate further.
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Scarborough project gets the green light
WA Minister for Environment, Amber-Jade Sanderson granted approval for the proposal on 11 August. The decision came after the Environment Protection Authority's assessment.
Woodside got the green light to construct about 33km of pipeline in nearshore waters off the Pilbara coastline, in the state's north. This will make up a section of the 430km pipeline that Woodside is developing as part of its expansion of the Pluto LNG facility.
Woodside welcomed the news with open arms. In a statement, Acting CEO Meg O'Neill said:
This is an important regulatory milestone as we now have both commonwealth and state primary environmental approvals in place to support a final investment decision.
An extensive public review was completed on the proposal, including stakeholder consultation, and a review of the spoil disposal management plan.
The dust is yet to settle
The decision has faced significant backlash. For instance, climate authorities have now weighed in on the debate, among others.
In yesterday's The Guardian, Conservation Council of Western Australia executive director, Piers Verstegen said the pipeline is "the key piece of infrastructure that would enable Australia's most polluting fossil fuel project to proceed".
Tim Baxter, of The Climate Council, also chimed in. Baxter said how "absurd" it was that a project like Scarborough is "still being considered, let alone approved, in 2021".
The announcement follows the International Panel on Climate Change's (IPCC) scathing report released a few days ago.
O'Neill has pushed back at the condemnation by saying:
Scarborough gas contains negligible reservoir carbon dioxide. Combined with the adoption of best available proven technology in design at Pluto Train 2, these developments will be amongst the lowest-carbon LNG sources globally for Woodside's North Asian customers.
Given the summation of these factors, investors can expect more to come from each camp. Despite the outrage, there has been little effect on the Woodside share price.
Woodside share price snapshot
The Woodside share price has posted a year-to-date loss of about 4%. Despite this, Woodside shares are 8% into the green over the past 12 months.
In addition, Woodside shares are about 4% in the red over the past month.
These returns have lagged the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO), which has climbed about 25% over the past year.
At the time of writing, Woodside has a market capitalisation of $21.11 billion.
