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Woodside fights Oz carbon move
16.09.08
Oil and gas producer Woodside Petroleum, 34%-owned by Royal Dutch Shell, says a planned Australian carbon-trading scheme will more than double its operating costs on most projects.
Woodside operates the A$25 billion (£11.1 billion) North West Shelf liquefied natural gas venture off Western Australia.
The proposed pricing of A$20 to A$40 a ton for carbon emissions in 2010, escalating over time, would also cut cash flows on gas projects by about 30%, the company said. Under the planned trading system, LNG producers would not qualify for free emissions permits.
Woodside is urging the Australian government to exempt LNG producers from the system, or grant them free permits, until overseas competitors face similar costs.
LNG “is the one product we produce in this country that reduces the global greenhouse impact”, chief executive Don Voelte said.
