Shares of Woodside Petroleum Limited (ASX: WPL) are rangebound on Tuesday and now trade less than 1% higher at $29 apiece.
Earlier in the session, Woodside had crept up to $29.28 apiece, before receding back down to its current levels. It had closed the day at $28.91 yesterday.
Meanwhile, Brent Crude trades at US$112 per barrel after gyrating upwards in the last few weeks. In wider market moves, the S&P/ASX 300 Metals & Mining Index (ASX: XMM) has climbed 81 basis points on the day.
What's up with the Woodside share price?
Woodside's Scarborough project has caused its fair share of controversy along its very short lifecycle to date.
With the newly-elected government now sworn in, Labor leader Anthony Albanese has made commitments to reduce climate emissions by roughly 40% compared to 2005 levels.
However, with a large swing of support towards independents and The Greens simultaneously gripping the election's result, the new ministry might face pushback as both of these groups are seeking a 60% and 70% reduction respectively.
Greens leader Adam Bandt – whose party picked up three seats in the Senate – was adamant the new government had an obligation for Labor to work with the Greens.
"We've been very clear that in this parliament we have to come up with a plan for coal and gas," Bandt told The Australian Financial Review.
"This has to be the year that Australia's pollution starts peaking and that we keep coal and gas in the ground."
However, potential minister for the climate, Chris Bowen has assured that the Labor government will carry its election commitments forward and won't necessarily be swayed by the other parties.
This sentiment was echoed by former WA premier Colin Barnett, who also told The AFR that "it will be difficult to achieve a tougher target for 2030 when you've got a big project like Scarborough."
"The [Scarborough] project needs to happen, but it's going to be a dilemma for Albanese because a lot of people would say he'd be breaking his word – the emissions out of Scarborough dwarf everything else," he added.
"It's a major project. It guarantees the continuance of the Northwest Shelf at its current production levels and allows the expansion of Pluto," Barnett concluded.
The Woodside share price has clipped a 32% gain this year to date amid a sector-wide commodity boom that's seen prices for oil and gas shoot north.
