The Woodside Energy Group Ltd (ASX: WDS) share price is set to end the week on a sour note as weakening oil prices and controversy over its $30 billion Browse gas project is weighing on sentiment.
Our largest ASX energy share is among those leading losses in the sector with a 4.48% drop to $32.22 in afternoon trade.
In contrast, the S&P/ASX 200 Index (ASX: XJO) is giving up 1.51%. Although it's the energy sector that is the worst-performing group.
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Why are ASX energy shares lagging the market
Woodside's peers aren't faring much better. The Beach Energy Ltd (ASX: BPT) share price is down 4.55% to $1.63. Meanwhile, the Santos Ltd (ASX: STO) share price has surrendered 3.39% to $7.69.
You can blame the close to 4% overnight decline in the Brent oil price to US$90.65 for the sector's woes.
Fear of a global recession sparked by too-aggressive rate hikes from central banks in the United States across to Australia triggered the sell-off.
Browse project hangs heavy on Woodside's share price
It doesn't help that Woodside is copping fierce criticism from environmental groups for its Browse LNG project in Western Australia after it submitted its final environmental impact statement (EIS) to the government.
Greenpeace estimates that Browse's lifetime Scope 1 and Score 3 emissions will total 1.6 billion tonnes of carbon, reported the Sydney Morning Herald.
Scope 1 emissions measure the amount of carbon released from the project, while Scope 3 measures carbon from customers using gas from Browse.
The article also noted that Woodside avoided any commitment to "bury" 107 million tonnes of carbon.
Fuzzy maths plague carbon calculations
The final EIS said burying the carbon via carbon capture and storage is a "high-risk, high-cost" option. Therefore, it isn't part of the base plan.
The 107 million tonnes of CO2 represent 33 times Woodside's direct emissions in 2021. One would think that by not dealing with this issue, the ASX energy giant would not be able to meet its own climate goals.
Interestingly, management is insisting that pushing ahead with the stalled project can contribute to hitting the goals of the Paris climate accord.
Its reasoning is that Browse could cut 342 million tonnes of carbon from the atmosphere. This is the difference between using gas from the project to generate power and using fossil fuels.
Woodside share price snapshot
While the Woodside share price may be struggling today, it is up over 53% in the past 12 months. This makes it the best performer among the major ASX energy shares.
The Beach Energy share price is a touch behind with its 48% advance while Santos is sitting on a 20% gain.
In contrast, the ASX 200 lost over 9% of its value in the past year.
