The Wilderness Society meets with new head of Shell Australia

August 2010: The week before our meeting, Toby Turtle was outside a Shell sponsored promotion of gas at the ABC studios, while others ventured inside to raise their concerns about the proposed polluting Kimberley industrial site

On Friday 13 August, The Wilderness Society, together with the Conservation Council of WA, met with Ann Pickard, the new head of Shell Australia.

Shell is both a 10% partner in the proposed Browse (James Price Point) LNG project as well as a 34% shareholder in Woodside Ltd – the ‘operator’ of the Browse LNG project.

Shell is also a 25% partner in Gorgon LNG (Barrow Island) and 15% partner in the North West Shelf LNG project.

Peter Robertson and Renae Williams from The Wilderness Society, and Piers Verstegen, Director, Conservation Council of WA spent an hour with her and senior staff at the Shell office in Perth.

Ms Pickard is new to Australia, coming from Shell’s notorious operations in Nigeria.

Ann was at pains to point out that Shell was only a small player in the Browse LNG project, but as both a 10% partner in Browse and a major shareholder in Woodside, Shell is very influential and cannot ignore its responsibility to the environment and community.

Ann said she did not agree with Don Voelte’s (CEO of Woodside) use of the term ‘slam dunk’ to describe the prospects of the Kimberley LNG proposal.

She said that ultimately, regardless of the uncertainty surrounding the project, Shell would not accept a project that was uneconomic.  According to a report by major investment banker JP Morgan, the option of piping gas to existing infrastructure in the Pilbara is more economically viable than a Kimberley industrial site for most of the joint venture partners.

Shell has been reminded that the Kimberley is a national and international icon, and that being involved in a project that poses significant environmental impacts is a major risk to Shell’s global corporate image and reputation.

A key point that Government and the oil and gas companies involved in this disastrous project should remember is, the whole ‘strategic assessment’ process has gone off the rails due to political interference by Premier Barnett and Federal Resources Minister Martin Ferguson. This adds to the fact that the project ultimately will not have a ‘social license to operate’, either from the local Kimberley community, or the wider Australia public.

Ann advised that Shell had investigated floating LNG for the Browse LNG project but had so far found it to be too difficult, although she was unable to expand upon whether this was based on technical or economic grounds. Shell is however progressing with floating LNG in the nearby ‘Prelude’ gas field development, and did not rule out floating LNG becoming more feasible elsewhere, ‘down the track’.

We pointed out to her that this project, together with other existing and proposed LNG projects up and down the WA coast, is adding, or would add, enormous amounts of greenhouse gas pollution and it is unacceptable for companies like Shell to hide behind government inaction as an excuse to do nothing to mitigate emissions.

Ann said she would be meeting the Premier ‘on Monday’ and would raise the fact that she had met with us, with him. It serves as another reminder to the Premier that The Wilderness Society and other eNGOs aren’t going away and, with your help, we’ll fight this foolish project to the end.

If you would like volunteer and help support the Kimberley campaign, please contact Renae Williams.