Bullish Woodside pushes on with $38b project budget

afr.com:

Woodside Energy chief executive Meg O’Neill has declared oil and gas demand will remain “resilient” for decades as the company pushes ahead with almost $40 billion of new large-scale projects in Australia, Senegal and Mexico, despite mounting pressure to decarbonise.

The oil and gas producer, which has a net-zero direct emissions “aspiration” by 2050, is due to start up its Sangomar oil project in Senegal in the middle of next year, at a cost of between $US4.9 billion ($7.6 billion) and $US5.2 billion.

Woodside intends to start oil production at the Sangomar project in Senegal in mid-2024. Woodside

It is still targeting the first cargo from its $US12 billion Scarborough LNG project in Western Australia in 2026, despite delays in securing regulatory approvals, and has given 2028 as the target date to begin production from the 100,000 barrels a day Trion oil project in Mexico, expected to cost $US7.2 billion.

“The world’s demand for Woodside’s products is expected to be resilient in the coming decades as populations and economies grow, with our target markets in Asia driving primary energy demand,” Ms O’Neill said at the Perth-based company’s annual investor briefing in Sydney on Wednesday.

“Growth in demand for LNG in particular is expected to continue as buyers seek to secure supplies to support renewables in the power mix as they decarbonise.”

Ms O’Neill also pointed to investments Woodside is pursuing in “new energy”, adding low-carbon ammonia production to the options under consideration which include liquid hydrogen and carbon capture and storage.

At Scarborough, Woodside is still awaiting secondary approvals from the offshore petroleum regulator amid a slew of court challenges from activist groups over Indigenous