PERTH, March 31, 2026, 04:14 AWST
- Woodside is pulling its existing Browse CCS referral from the federal approvals process and intends to resubmit under the updated EPBC Act. 1
- The plan aims to inject between 3 and 4 million tonnes of carbon dioxide annually, slashing greenhouse emissions from the Browse-to-North West Shelf by roughly 47%, according to federal referral filings. 1
Woodside Energy is set to refile its Browse carbon capture and storage (CCS) proposal, following the withdrawal of its existing submission from Australia’s federal approval pipeline. According to the company, new environmental legislation now permits a new referral — a move that preserves a key part of its broader Browse gas strategy. 2
Woodside factored in a CCS fix for Browse from the start, planning to trap reservoir CO2 that might have been released into the air. The project is also tied to the North West Shelf LNG network, which secured a federal environmental green light through to 2070 just last year. 3
The Browse CCS proposal has been marked as withdrawn on the federal EPBC public portal. According to a Woodside spokesperson, the company is sticking with its pledge for a “transparent and robust environmental assessment process” and plans to resubmit “as soon as practicable.” Australia’s first wave of EPBC reforms kicked in on Feb. 20, following parliament’s approval of the bills in late November. 1
According to referral documents, Browse CCS plans to inject between 3 million and 4 million tonnes of CO2 every year into the Calliance Storage Formation, a site located roughly 425 km north of Broome and sitting about 4 km beneath the ocean floor. The documents also note the system aims to capture at least 85% of reservoir CO2 from the Browse-to-North West Shelf project, with a projected reduction in greenhouse emissions of around 53 million tonnes, or 47%, over the course of the development. 1
Back in February, Liz Westcott—now CEO at Woodside—told analysts the “Browse joint venture remains committed,” but flagged two hurdles: commercial deals with the North West Shelf venture and securing environmental approvals. So, the CCS refiling isn’t a one-off move; it’s just another piece in a bigger commercial and regulatory puzzle. 4
Woodside isn’t the only player shifting gears on storage strategy after the rule changes. Back in January, Inpex flagged plans to refile its 8 million-tonne-a-year Bonaparte CCS project under the updated legislation—a move that underscores how the regulatory shake-up has put the brakes on multiple major gas-related carbon storage efforts across Australia. 5
Australia’s commercial-scale CCS sector remains modest. According to a Reuters report from January, the country counts just two such projects in operation: Santos’ Moomba facility, with a capacity of 1.7 million tonnes, and Gorgon, which is linked to Chevron and rated at 4 million tonnes annually. Actual storage at Gorgon came in at 1.3 million tonnes for its most recent period. 5
The LNG market’s gotten tighter lately. Reuters said last week that cyclone damage took Woodside’s North West Shelf offline and affected Chevron’s Gorgon and Wheatstone facilities. MST Marquee’s Saul Kavonic warned these outages could “exacerbate gas market tightness in Asia and Europe” if Australia doesn’t get production back on track soon. 6
Still, delays loom. Woodside’s capital markets material flags three Federal Court cases contesting the federal nod for the North West Shelf extension, plus a separate Supreme Court case in Western Australia that targets the state’s sign-off. The company also points to environmental approval risk as a key variable for Browse. 7
Woodside hasn’t nailed down a date for its new referral, saying only that a refiling is coming soon. The immediate sign to watch is the posting of a revised application on the federal portal—if it pops up, Browse could stay on track. If not, the project risks slipping into another extended approval round. 2
