The Federal Government has spent $1.5 billion on just the first of three phases of decommissioning the Northern Endeavour, whose owner failed four years after obtaining the poorly maintained oil producer from Woodside. The cost to date, paid through a levy on offshore oil and gas production, has covered preparing the 274m-long vessel to be moved, disconnecting it from the seabed, and towing it to Denmark for recycling. The mounting bill, revealed through published contract information (table below), is leading some in the offshore oil and gas sector to question the Government's project management skills, with concerns the final bill could exceed $2.5 billion. The Government's contract with UK firm Petrofac has had 16 amendments so far, taking the original $357 million deal to $1.03 billion. The 21 largest contracts identified by _Boiling Cold_ had a total initial value of $731 million. This has now more than doubled to $1.57 billion. Schedule delays have accompanied the cost hikes. The vessel was towed from the Timor Sea in September 2025, two years later than the Government's 2022 environmental approval application envisaged. Phase 2 - to permanently seal nine wells on the seabed - was to be completed in 2025, but the lead contractor was only appointed in August. In the same month, the Government began looking for a lead contractor for Phase 3 - removing pipelines from the seabed - that in 2022 was slated for completion by December. A Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) spokesperson said the Government's priority was worker safety and protecting the environment, while ensuring funds are spent efficiently. "All works have been procured through open tenders and evaluated to achieve the best value (for) money," they said. Water Corporation looks to EPA to shield Perth’s water supply from Alcoa and Roger CookMark McGowan warned Alcoa to lift its game or curtail its mining, but his successor, Roger Cook, did the opposite.Boiling ColdPeter Milne In 2015, the owners of the Northern Endeavour, Woodside and a company now owned by Spain's Repsol, recognised a decommissioning liability of about $362 million. Even with the best management, the clean-up would cost much more now. There has been a decade of inflation, further deterioration of the vessel under private ownership, and increased restrictions on what equipment can be left in the ocean. Oil and gas companies also commonly minimise the decommissioning liabilities they recognise on their balance sheets. _Boiling Cold_ understands the vessel required more maintenance than the Government first expected. It was in poor condition when Northern Oil and Gas Australia (NOGA) received it, as Woodside had cut maintenance on the assumption it would close the project down, not sell it. ## A heavy levy about to be extended NOGA's failure pushed the Coalition Government of the time to crack down on the offshore oil and gas sector. It introduced trailing liabilities that made earlier owners liable for clean-up costs if subsequent owners failed, and a 48 cents-a-barrel levy on offshore production to pay for the Northern Endeavour. In the three years to mid-2024, the levy collected $1.15 billion. The levy was not well received by other oil and gas producers, who directed their ire at both the Government and Woodside. “The circumstances under which NOGA was permitted to acquire ageing and late-life offshore assets, despite obviously lacking the appropriate technical or financial capability to operate those assets or meet its decommissioning obligations, is concerning,” Chevron said in 2021. “In its current form, the levy punishes Chevron and other responsible resource holders for the failings of others.” ****Cliff Head platform.**** Image: Pilot Energy The industry successfully lobbied for the levy legislation to apply only to the Northern Endeavour, but that effort appears set to be undone soon. In July, the two owners of the Cliff Head oil platform off WA's Mid West entered voluntary administration, leaving an estimated $200 million decommissioning effort unfunded. Soon after, normally pro-industry Resources Minister Madeleine King said she would have no hesitation in extending the Northern Endeavour levy to cover Cliff Head. “Under no circumstances will taxpayers be left on the hook,” King said. The DISR spokesperson said, "While the administration unfolds, the Government has taken the necessary initial action to ensure safety and protect the environment." In September, King authorised expenditure for maintenance and management to keep the platform safe. "These costs will be recovered from the oil and gas industry," DISR said. "Taxpayers will not foot the bill." Australian Energy Producers, the oil and gas lobby group representing the companies paying the levy, did not respond to questions from _Boiling Cold_. * * *

Black Mountain Energy, which expects the assessment of 8000 appeals against its plan to frack for gas in the Kimberley to be "completed in the near term," is looking for additional funds to continue as a going concern. The largely American-owned company told shareholders in a half-year update that a recommendation by WA's independent environmental watchdog, the EPA, in January that its Project Valhalla proceed, showed it was "unlikely to have a significant environmental impact." The appeals against that recommendation are now with WA environment minister Matthew Swinbourn's Office of the Appeals Convenor, which started its investigation in April. When Swinbourn receives the Convenor's report, he will be free to decide if Valhalla proceeds, and if so, under what conditions. Valhalla is likely to be the first of three contentious projects Swinbourn decides on in the next 12 months - with Woodside's Browse gas project and Alcoa's strip mining of the jarrah forest to follow. ****Black Mountain plans to drill up to 20 wells targeting gas up to 5km underground.****__Image:__ BME Black Mountain Energy (BME) executive chair Rhett Bennett said Project Valhalla could be a material resource for Western Australians. However, up to 87 per cent of the gas can be exported because in 2021 now-Premier Roger Cook exempted Black Mountain from a ban on exporting onshore gas. BME also needs federal approval before it can start drilling up to 20 wells in the Canning Basin using hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, which involves pumping high-pressure water and chemicals underground to fracture the rock to improve gas flow. Independent experts advising the Federal Government were less trusting of Black Mountain's proposal than the WA EPA. They labelled BME's assessment "limited and disjointed," with profound gaps that led to "largely unsupported" conclusions about the risk imposed on water resources in the Fitzroy River catchment. Federal Doubts on Black Mountain Fracking: Endangered SpeciesBlack Mountain’s conclusion that its drilling will not affect water resources is without foundation, and threatened species and National Heritage are at risk, according to the Federal environment department.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## Funds for fracking BME lost $1.4 million in six months, leaving it with $2.5 million in the kitty on June 30. The financial statement approved by the directors on 11 September said the numbers indicated there was a "material uncertainty that may cast significant doubt on the Group's ability to continue as a going concern". However, the directors believe BME can pay its bills through belt-tightening and fundraising, backed by a letter from its US parent, Black Mountain Canning LLC, confirming its intention to provide any financial support needed to allow BME to pay its bills for the next 12 months. BME is considering a $3 million capital raising that its parent has committed to taking 74 per cent of, and is also seeking additional loans from a director and shareholder of the parent, most likely chairman Rhett Bennett. The financial pressure BME will face in the next few years eased in August after the WA petroleum regulator allowed it to push back a commitment to drill an exploration well by January 2029. The well was initially meant to be drilled by 2019 at a cost of $8 million when exploration permit EP 371 was granted in 2014, but the deadline has been continually pushed back for 12 years. Given Black Mountain's financial fragility, if it is allowed to frack, the Minister for Mines and Petroleum would likely use his powers to require the company to procure insurance to cover decommissioning costs and any environmental incidents, adding a significant expense to the project. UK-listed Georgina Energy, which plans to start drilling in the remote Little Great Sandy Desert in September 2026, appears to have been required to first procure liability insurance and specific cover for well control or pollution incidents. If Project Valhalla does not proceed, BME must make all wells safe and restore the site, an effort it assigned a $3 million liability to. Is Black Mountain’s Kimberley dream fracking impossible?Investors beware: after spending more than $40 million in the Canning Basin, the US-owned company’s continued pursuit of remote gas appears to be throwing good money after bad.Boiling ColdPeter Milne

WA Premier Mark McGowan told Alcoa in 2023 that it must better protect Perth's water supply or face curtailed mining and "significant job losses," but nine months later his successor, Roger Cook, folded and did the opposite. Now Water Corporation, which considers contamination of its dams from Alcoa's strip mining a certainty, wants the independent EPA to back reinstating the protections Cook removed. 💧 WHY IT MATTERS · Dams are vital: in addition to collecting runoff, in winter they store excess desalinated and bore water for summer use. · Alcoa's strip mining near Serpentine Dam increases the risk of contamination with sediments, pollutants and pathogens. · Contamination could require widespread use of bottled water and cause long-term water restrictions. · Alcoa produces more than 70% of its bauxite and alumina in WA, where it employs thousands of people. At stake is the water supply system for more than two million people in WA’s capital and South West and thousands of jobs at Alcoa. After a worst-case contamination from Alcoa's mining in six hours 100,000 Water Corporation customers could need bottled water, followed by widespread long-term water restrictions. Documents obtained by _Boiling Cold_ freedom of information requests reveal the tussle between the $US13 billion aluminium giant and Water Corporation, and the very different approaches of two Labor premiers. ## Water contamination danger Almost all of Alcoa's strip-mining of jarrah forest since 1963 has been in water catchments in the Darling Range. There, dams collect runoff that supplies about a quarter of Perth's water and, over winter, store excess bore and desalinated water for use in summer. In recent years, Alcoa's mining has moved north into hillier country closer to Serpentine Dam - the system's largest reservoir. The proximity to the water's edge and steep slopes has increased the risk of sediment contaminating the dam after a heavy rainfall, making the water impossible to treat for human use. Alcoa's operation is vast - it is allowed to strip mine 800 hectares a year - the equivalent of two Kings Parks - and is responsible for 49 square kilometres of cleared land in the jarrah forest, as at December 2025, more than twice the size of Rottnest Island. The public was unaware that Alcoa's then low-profile operation less than 60km from Perth's CBD threatened their water supply until a leaked government briefing was reported in February 2023. It revealed that runoff containing sediment, chemical pollutants and disease-causing pathogens could render water undrinkable for years. Fixing the problem could cost billions of dollars. ****More than two million people in WA's South West depend on a complex and highly integrated water system.**** __Image: Water Corporation submission to EPA.__ ## McGowan to Alcoa: shape up or else Weeks later, WA Premier Mark McGowan wrote to Alcoa demanding it demonstrate it could effectively protect Serpentine Dam's drinking water and improve its forest rehabilitation. A _Boiling Cold_ freedom of information request obtained the letter, but for a further eight months Alcoa objected to releasing one redacted paragraph. The miner only relented after the Information Commissioner made it clear she was about to rule in favour of disclosure. The crucial paragraph reveals how serious the Premier was about Alcoa: improve or the government will restrict your mining, even at the cost of many jobs. > **"The Western Australian Government is concerned that if Alcoa does not appropriately address these issues, this could result in significant job losses due to the halting of future operations."** > WA Premier Mark McGowan to Alcoa 29 March 2023 Two months later McGowan announced a surprise retirement. His deputy, Roger Cook, won the Labor Party vote to replace him after the Australian Manufacturing Workers’ Union, which covers Alcoa's refinery workers, abandoned the candidate of its own Left faction to support him. By the end of the year the outlook would be better for Alcoa, but bleak for the security of Perth's water supply. ## Cook to Government: jobs before water Roger Cook soon had an opportunity to write some new rules for Alcoa. In August 2023, the WA Environmental Protection Authority called for public comment on whether it should assess Alcoa's mining. Under WA's Environmental Protection Act, it is illegal to progress a proposal the EPA is assessing, meaning that if the watchdog decided to look at Alcoa, much of its operation would have to shut down. It was the unintended result of legislation written with new projects in mind, not existing ones. The Government started work on an exemption order to allow Alcoa to keep mining, while assessing a five-year mining plan proposed by the miner. A detailed Water Corporation assessment damned Alcoa's plan. > **_"Bauxite mining operations represent the single most significant risk to water quality in Perth" > "Probability of contamination ... is considered certain." > "Mining impacts are persistent and irreversible"_** > Water Corporation 2023 risk assessment of Alcoa's 2023-2027 mine plan The Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER) did not endorse the plan. > **_"There is likely a high level of risk to public drinking water" > "Could render water from the (Serpentine) Reservoir unusable for a period of weeks, months or, in extreme circumstances, years."_ > _DWER 54-page Overview_** The Water Corporation board was told that its past advice to protect water quality no longer had Government support, "recognising that JTSI (now the Department of Energy and Economic Diversification) and DWER had formal instructions to have no impact on social or economic factors." In other words, under Cook it was jobs for thousands before water for millions, the opposite of McGowan's stance. ****Almost all of Alcoa's mining occurs in water catchments. Exploration planned in the previously untouched Harris, Canning, and Mundaring catchments is temporarily on hold****. __Image: Water Corporation submission to EPA.__ ## Lower standards, higher risk The Water Corporation board was told the Government required "a relaxation in the existing conditions on Alcoa ... allowing Alcoa to mine over a larger area and without almost any constraints outside 1km of the high water mark of the dams." The "existing conditions" imposed on Alcoa in previous mining plans stopped Alcoa mining near dams, on steep slopes, or near groundwater and limited how much of a valley (or sub catchment) could be cleared. A later briefing discussed the Corporation's push to "influence the reinstatment of historic constraints to mining." In contrast to Water Corporation's talk of existing conditions being relaxed and working to have them reinstated, an Alcoa spokesman said: "there has been no reduction in controls related to water protection applied to our operations." "Alcoa has not had a negative impact on WA’s drinking water supply since operations commenced," he said. Alcoa lied about jarrah forest rehabilitation: ad watchdogThe Ad Standards decision has demolished a key plank of the US miner’s expensive campaign to win public support for expanded mining in WA.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## Jobs threat - empty or real? In December 2023, Cook's Government approved Alcoa's mining plan and granted it an exemption order that enacted the current lower standards. It happened days after the US miner told Cook that it was "not economically viable for Alcoa to completely retreat" from "operating in higher risk areas." The $13 billion company went on to make an $881 million profit in Australia over the next 12 months. _Boiling Cold_ asked Alcoa whether the large profit showed its WA operations could still have been economically viable with significantly less access to higher-risk areas. An Alcoa spokesman said in this context economic viability did not mean profitability but the ability to supply sufficient bauxite to keep its alumina refineries operating, "therefore the basis of your question is incorrect." __Boiling Cold__ 's unrivalled reporting on Alcoa is free for all to read, maximising impact and accountability. I need your backing to keep covering stories that would otherwise go unreported. Support independent journalism in WA ## New rules on the way In June the WA Government announced it would update the current exemption order "in coming weeks." The move gives the Cook Government an opportunity, if it wants, to reinstate the water supply protections it removed in 2023. Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn would not say if the new order would reduce the risk to the water supply, but said its terms and a new Alcoa mining plan remained under active consideration. Exemption orders are temporary measures until the EPA makes its recommendations to Swinbourn and the Government imposes a new modern regulatory regime onto Alcoa. The Water Corporation's 2025 submission to the EPA, obtained by a _Boiling Cold_ freedom of information request, calls for the independent watchdog to support the reimposition of the "the four key principles of catchment management" Cook removed. It may be some time before the EPA reveals if it backs the state-owned utility's consistent calls for Alcoa's mining to be not too close, not too steep, not too much and not too deep. In February, Alcoa told investors the EPA was likely to make its recommendations by June, with the Environment Minister to hand down his decision by December, but the EPA assessment is still underway. EPA chair Darren Walsh said the Authority continued to review Alcoa’s responses to the public submissions and was focused on completing its assessment and finalising its report for the Minister. WA Forest Alliance (WAFA) campaigner Jason Fowler wants the Government to immediately ban Alcoa from Reservoir Protection Zones (RPZs) that extend 2km from the dam water's edge, where strip mining is allowed but much lower impact activites like hiking are forbidden. The Alcoa spokeman said it would not seek to mine in RPZs when seeking apporval to mine in new areas. WAFA also wants no new mining in drinking water catchments, and all current mining there to cease by 2028. "Without these protections, the quality and quantity of drinking water from Perth's water supply dams is at severe risk," Fowler said. * * * See the complete set of documents on Alcoa's mining in WA made available by _Boiling Cold._

A small UK firm chasing helium, hydrogen and gas in the remote Little Sandy Desert will ensure the WA Government that it has decommissioning costs covered in all eventualities before starting drilling planned for September. London-listed Georgina Energy seeks to drill more than three kilometres underground but must first allay fears that its Hussar well could become a smaller Cliff Head, where financial failures in July left an unfunded clean-up bill for oil facilities of more than $200 million. The WA Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration (DMPE) would not specifically comment on the Hussar well as arrangements are confidential, but a spokesman said the Government's position was clear: > "Petroleum titleholders are responsible for the decommissioning of oil and gas projects in WA, ... (the) community will not bear the costs," he said. "Where required, operators must procure Public and General Liability insurance, along with an Operators Extra Expense policy covering well control and pollution. "This insurance must be in place before operational activities commence on site." It appears that the WA Government has set down those requirements for Georgina's Australian subsidiary, Westmarket Oil and Gas. _Boiling Cold_ asked Georgina Energy what arrangements were in place to ensure that, regardless of possible cost overruns or lack of exploration success, the Hussar site would be decommissioned and restored, and whether the arrangements were independent of the company's financial strength. A company spokeswoman said the drilling would comply with a well management plan approved by DMPE that "covers all the items you have raised.” ## The helium hopeful half a world away Georgina Energy, which has no revenue and just two projects - Hussar in WA and Mt Winter in the NT, where it is also chasing helium, hydrogen and gas - is valued at £34 million ($65 million) by the London stock market. In its most recent financial accounts to January 31 2026, the auditor concluded that "a material uncertainty exists that may cast significant doubt on the company’s ability to continue as a going concern.” However, since then it has received £7 million ($13 million) from equity raisings to pursue developing Hussar, which it claims has helium and hydrogen with a potential "in-situ" value of $US55 billion ($77 billion). Investor interest is likely buoyed by the US-Iran war, which has blocked th Strait of Hormuz, isolating a third of the world's supply of the gas vital for semiconductor manufacture and MRI machines. Even if Georgina finds significant quantities of helium, it could face a huge technical challenge to develop Hussar. A study commissioned by Georgina that "confirms the potential for a commercial gas field development at Hussar, capable of producing helium, hydrogen, LNG, and argon" came with a caveat: "no existing process operating in this manner is known to the author." Alcoa refuses to rule out mining the Perth HillsAlcoa raised hopes that the jarrah forest inland from Perth would escape its bauxite strip mining, but the US miner is keeping its options openBoiling ColdPeter Milne ## Who pays for oil and gas cleanups? In July, the two ASX-listed owners of the Cliff Head platform off the coast of WA's Mid West - Pilot Energy and Triangle Energy - called in administrators, leaving an estimated $200 million decommissioning bill in Commonwealth waters, and more work in WA's jurisdiction of shallow waters and onshore. Prior to the failure, Pilot's accounts, like Georgina before its fundraising, reported "a material uncertainty which may cast significant doubt as to whether the group will continue as a going concern" In recent years, numerous small oil and gas companies in Australia have failed, leaving governments responsible for making wells safe, removing equipment and restoring sites. In 2020, the owner of the Northern Endeavour oil vessel in the Timor Sea went into liquidation, just four years after Woodside sold the vessel to an under-financed one-man company. In response, the Federal Government introduced a levy on offshore petroleum production so the industry, not taxpayers, pays the estimated $1 billion decommissioning bill. Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has said she would have no hesitation in extending the levy to cover Cliff Head. However, it is unclear how the WA Government would fund the clean-up of Cliff Head's onshore and shallow-water facilities within its jurisdiction while maintaining its vow that the community will not pay.

Rio Tinto has lodged its detailed proposal to develop the Winu copper deposit in the Pilbara, discovered in 2017, with the WA Environmental Protection Authority. The proposed copper and gold mine is a below-the-water-table open pit that will connect to the Great Northern Highway via an 183-kilometre-long access road, over which concentrate will be trucked out for export. Almost 5000 hectares of native vegetation will be cleared, covering critical habitat for six species including the Greater Bilby. The clearing occurs within a 14,000-hectare development envelope, downsized in 2025 from 24,000 hectares after pushback from Traditional Owners. The public can comment on the proposal until 22 October 2026. ****The Winu mine site is remote, even by Pilbara standards.**** Map: Rio Tinto environmental submission Rio Tinto majority-owns and operates the project, and Japan's Sumitomo holds a 30 per cent stake. For decades, Rio Tinto and BHP have based their business on producing iron ore in WA. However, copper is becoming more important. In recent half-year results, the metal accounted for more than half of BHP's earnings and more than a third at Rio Tinto. Rio Tinto already mines copper at Kennecott in the USA and Oyu Tolgoi in Mongolia. As well as Winu, it is also pursuing new copper revenue from the Resolution project in the US, which it owns with BHP. S&P Global forecasts the world will need 42 million tonnes of copper in 2040, 50 per cent more than demand in 2025.

Australia's largest renewable energy project has been nearly halved, and the clean electricity will no longer be used to produce ammonia from green hydrogen. The Australian Renewable Energy Hub was to incorporate 26 gigawatts of wind and solar power generation over 6,500 square kilometres of WA's North West to make 10 million tonnes of green ammonia a year, at a cost of about $50 billion. Plans to produce hydrogen from water using renewable electricity and then use that hydrogen to make ammonia have been dropped just months after the Federal Government backed further development with a $22 million grant. On Wednesday, WA's environmental watchdog, the EPA, posted that it had terminated its assessment of the project at the request of the proponents, InterContinental Energy (ICE) and CWP Global. An ICE spokeswoman said the project's initial phases would continue under an earlier approval for a 15-gigawatt power project. She said the now-dumped referral "proposed a number of additional elements, including desalination and green hydrogen and ammonia production infrastructure, alternative export arrangements, an expanded solar footprint and a company town." ****Hub location between Port Hedland and Broome**** __. Source: AREH__ "ICE has requested termination of that unassessed referral as an administrative clean-up, as no assessment of those proposed revisions is being progressed under that referral," she said. The 15-gigawatt plan lodged with the EPA in 2018 and approved by the WA Government in 2020 envisages exporting power to Indonesia and Singapore via subsea cable. However, _Boiling Cold_ understands the target market is now miners in the Pilbara. Any attempt to make low-emissioms green iron in the Pilbara will likely need vast amounts of power to either use directly, or to make green hydrogen on site. For over a decade ICE and CWP Global have sought ways to monetise their exclusive rights to develop renewable energy in the project area. In that time blue chip partners Vestas, Macquarie and BP have come and gone, and the market has switched from power to South East Asia, then exporting green ammonia, and now clean power to the Pilbara (see timeline below). Alcoa refuses to rule out mining the Perth HillsAlcoa raised hopes that the jarrah forest inland from Perth would escape its bauxite strip mining, but the US miner is keeping its options openBoiling ColdPeter Milne ## Hydrogen retreat The news of AREH moving away from hydrogen production comes days after Woodside canned its commitment to invest $US5 billion in clean energy by 2030. The move will further reduce the likelihood of it building its PerthH2 plant to export lower-carbon blue hydrogen. Woodside did invest $US2.35 billion in the Beaumont blue ammonia project in Texas. However, the future of the investment to produce lower-carbon blue ammonia by using carbon storage is now under review. In 2025, fellow WA company Fortescue axed two green hydrogen projects and slashed jobs associated with the clean fuel. ## Government dollars for hydrogen plan In January, the Australian Renewable Energy Agency (ARENA) backed the AREH project with $22 million towards a $95 million study focused on renewable hydrogen production in the Pilbara. ICE said the study would advance the project's aim to produce large volumes of low-cost green hydrogen to underpin efforts to make green iron in the Pilbara. _Boiling Cold_ asked ICE and ARENA about the future of the government grant and is yet to receive responses. * * * ## Timeline of an ever expanding green dream _2014_ - Planning begins _2016_ - WA Government awards exclusive rights to develop a renewable energy project over a vast area between Port Hedland and Broome. _2017_ - InterContinental Energy, CWP and wind turbine manufacturer Vestas launch the Asian Renewable Energy Hub to supply **five gigawatts** of wind and solar electrical power to Indonesia through subsea cables at a cost of **$13 billion.** A final investment decision (FID) for the Asian Renewable Energy Hub was planned for **2020**. _2018_ - Planned capacity increased to **11 gigawatts** to provide power to the Pilbara as well as Indonesia. Macquarie joined as an investor at a cost of **$22 billion**. FID planned for **2021**. _May 2020_ - WA EPA approves **$22 billion** plans for **15 gigawatts** of generation. FID planned for **2025**. _October 2020_ - AREH switches to **26 gigawatts** of renewable generation to produce 10 million tonnes a year of green ammonia for export at a cost of **$50 billion**. Project to span 6,500 square kilometres. FID still planned for **2025**. Revised proposal submitted to the WA EPA. _2022_ - BP buys a 40 per cent stake in AREH and assumes operatorship. Vestas no longer involved. Project renamed the Australian Renewable Energy Hub. _2024_ - Macquarie sells out to BP. _2025_ - BP pulls out. ICE back in charge. _January 2026_ - ARENA contributes $22 million to investigate hydrogen production. _August 2026_ - ICE reverts to the **15 gigawatt** plan approved in 2020, with no hydrogen or ammonia produced.

ANALYSIS Oil and gas giant Woodside's $12,100 donation to WA Labor last week is part of a $1.2 million torrent of corporate cash flowing in since May as the party fights to see off One Nation in the formerly safe seat of Secret Harbour. Many big names in corporate WA feature among the top donors, but a company few have heard of leads the pack. WA Labor has used its status as the governing party at both state and Federal levels, and its massive number of elected members on the public payroll, to capture 78 per cent of all WA political contributions since May 1, according to disclosures published by the WA Electoral Commission. The August 29 by-election follows the resignation of Navy and SAS veteran Paul Papalia, announced on July 6, after almost two decades in Parliament. In his place Labor has offered Georgia Tree, a long-term Labor Party apparatchik living more than 60 km from the electorate, who recently left the office of gas exporter-friendly Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King to join Woodside. Exit polling of early voters this week suggested One Nation could win the seat, justifying Labor's clearly expensive campaign, but where is the money coming from? As there was significant speculation that Papalia would depart well ahead of the announcement, _Boiling Cold_ has analysed WA political contributions since May 1 to gauge the funds parties are raising ahead of the by-election. Donations to Perth Trades Hall were treated as donations to Labor. Most of Labor's funds have come from gifts. It also has the unique revenue of affiliation fees from unions and huge inflows from its compulsory party levy on its elected members in WA. In the most recent state and Federal elections, Labor gained 78 of the 124 seats in the WA Parliament and for the state's senators and representatives in Canberra. A levy on the income taxpayers pay these members has yielded $206,000 in just 15 weeks. ## Pay to say - revenue from access to ministers The big money, however, is from significant gifts - largely donated by companies and industry lobby groups. All political parties raise money from events where companies pay to attend for the opportunity to have face time with senior elected members. The technique favours governing parties that can offer up Ministers who make decisions that may affect those companies. This practise, while unsavoury to many voters, is legal. _Boiling Cold_ does not suggest the Labor Party or any of its financial supporters have done anything that is not in accordance with the law. Parties must disclose, as a gift, the profit they make from each attendee at a fundraising event by deducting the cost from the donation. Disclosures since May reveal groups of disclosed gifts of identical but not round amounts that are almost certainly from these events. It appears almost half the money Labour has raised since May 1 is from these cash-for-access events. The attendance fees are likely to keep flowing, with a report that Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will attend fundraising events when he travels to Perth next week. The appetite to pay up can be explained by one attendee not authorised to talk to the media, who said it was the only way for their organisation to get its position put to the relevant ministers. Of course, the expense shuts small companies, community groups and most non-government organisations out of the conversation. ## Who is paying WA Labor? The surprise top donor since May 1 is government affairs consultancy Anacta Strategies, which has made 12 donations in 15 weeks, totalling $81,502. Anacta, like its two competitors on the top donor list, has strong connections to Labor. Shortly before publishing, _Boiling Cold_ asked Anacta what proportion of its donations were paid by its clients. It has yet to respond.

ANALYSIS On Friday, INPEX released its half-year results, including $1.93 billion of revenue from its 68 per cent stake in the Ichthys LNG project for a profit of $1.54 billion. > "Revenue increased by ¥32.1 billion, or 17.5%, to ¥215.8 billion due to an increase in sales price of crude oil. Profit attributable to owners of parent increased by ¥34.0 billion, or 24.5%, to ¥173.0 billion." That is an eye-watering 80c in every dollar of sales going straight to the bottom line at a rate of more than $8 million a day, courtesy of the blocked Strait of Hormuz. This is the same company that in the past year : * has been prosecuted by the NT Government for underreporting dangerous benzene and toluene emissions from its Ichthys LNG plant near Darwin by a factor of more than 100 * spilled 36,000 litres of oil into Darwin Harbour * bypassed equipment to handle mercury at its offshore facilities, exposing workers to the toxic metal Before these debacles, its chief executive, Takayuki Ueda, called for less regulation in Australia. The Japanese company has the financial capacity to operate Ichthys safely, but instead it is endangering the environment and the health of Australian workers and residents. INPEX's half-year results indicate that the entire Ichthys project could contribute $1.4 billion to Australia in 2026 if the much-discussed 25 per cent gas tax was implemented. ##

An alumina refinery and bauxite mine in WA is the cornerstone of Alcoa's $US4.1 billion purchase of South32's global bauxite, alumina and aluminium business announced on Wednesday. Alcoa chief executive Bill Oplinger told analysts in the US that synergies from the deal, expected to conclude in early 2027, would save the company $US50 million in its first year, and total savings have a present value of $US900 million. In addition to the Worsley refinery and the Boddington mine in WA, Alcoa is acquiring South32's wholly-owned Hillside aluminium smelter in South Africa, as well as its interest in the MRN bauxite mine and the Alumar refinery and smelter in Brazil. Oplinger, speaking on Wednesday morning Perth time, said the biggest opportunities for synergies are in WA. "We're not looking at massive rationalisation of jobs; what we're looking at is applying our expertise to running Worsley in a way that we can creep capacity and make it more efficient," he said. South32's business in WA generated revenue of $US1.7 billion in 2025, resulting in earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation, and amortisation (EBITDA) of $US600 million. The $2.4 million-a-day earnings flow comes from mining forests and farmland for bauxite on the eastern edge of the Darling Scarp and moving the ore south on a 51 km-long conveyor system to be refined into alumina at Worsley for export through Bunbury. Map: Alcoa Much of the area mined by South32 is closer to Alcoa's Pinjarra refinery than it is to Worsley. Oplinger said the Pinjarra and Worsley refineries were designed to process specific types of bauxite, limiting what ore each company could extract from its lease. "Our mining lease has Greenstone bauxite in it. Their mining lease has granitic bauxite in it," he said. "There are tremendous opportunities to be able to blend the bauxite grades to achieve a very favourable outcome." Alcoa chief financial officer Molly Beerman said Alcoa now expected to be able to optimise a mine move planned for early next decade that was to cost hundreds of millions of dollars. "On the long term mine plans we are looking at a 40-year life of mine plan," she said. In 2025, the WA Government approved South32's expansion of the Boddington mine. "That's one of the big positives," Oplinger said. "I think that the majority of our stakeholders really understand the rationale for this deal and are excited about the opportunity to make a stronger Western Australian alumina bauxite and alumina business." South32's accounts recorded a $US1.2 billion liability for the future cost of retiring the assets Alcoa has bought, including decommissioning the Worsley refinery and rehabilitating that site and the strip-mined jarrah forest. However, Oplinger said Alcoa will only allow a third of that amount, as it uses US GAAP, which, unlike the IFRS standard used by South32, does not require a future cost to be recognised until the asset's closure date is known. Olpnger sold the deal to analysts as cheap access to capacity. "We're acquiring smelting capacity at about $US1850 per tonne (per annum), we're acquiring refining capacity at $US600 per tonne ... both of those numbers are below what the Chinese build in Indonesia today." He added that in the West, new smelting capacity would cost up to $ 8,000 per tonne and refining up to $ 2,000 per tonne. Alcoa is buying South32's 86 per cent share of its WA business. The remainder is held by Japanese firms Sojitz (4%) and a joint venture between Sumitomo and Malaysian company Press Metal Bintulu (10%).

In 2021 Premier Roger Cook exempted US-owned Black Mountain Energy from WA’s ban on exporting onshore gas, meaning its troubled Project Valhalla will be little help to local industry. A spokesman for the Premier said that if it proceeds, Valhalla “would be allowed to export a portion of its production under Western Australia’s domestic gas reservation policy as the 'first mover' in the Canning Basin.” The government neglected to specify the extent of the “portion.” It is 87 per cent. Black Mountain will be treated the same as offshore production in Commonwealth waters, and have to supply 15 units of gas to the WA market for every 100 units exported (% of total production for local use = 15 / (100+15) = 13 per cent ). Federal plan delivers three times more gas to WA than BrowseAustralia’s most gas-dependent state can be well supplied for decades without drilling near Scott Reef or fracking the Kimberley, according to an exclusive analysis by Boiling Cold.Boiling ColdPeter Milne The action of Cook as state development minister in 2021 is not the only hurdle stopping Black Mountain filling what the Premier called a “Browse-sized hole in our energy supplies in the early 2030s.“ Black Mountain’s initial drilling of 20 appraisal wells in the Kimberley will be done over seven years to determine if the underground formation can deliver sufficient gas for a larger project to be economically viable, according to Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water meeting minutes released in May after a freedom of information request. If the Federal Government follows WA and approves Valhalla this year, Black Mountain would not know if a production scale project was viable until 2033. If the investment made sense, then the design, approval and construction of a pipeline to the Pilbara and the drilling of hundreds of wells to fill it with gas would take many years. It would be almost 2040 until the 13 per cent of production dribbled into the WA market. That is way too little and too late for Cook’s early 2030s gas shortage. There is also the difficulty of Black Mountain Energy, that had just $302,000 in the bank at the end of 2025, affording the initial appraisal drilling. Its US parent Black Mountain Oil and Gas is already trying to build a $US10 billion ($14 billion) data centre in Fort Worth, Texas, so may not want to divert resources to an investment that will take more than a decade to get first revenue. ## Any other options? The Premier’s spokesman said any future proposals in the Canning Basin would be treated the same as other onshore gas developments and be required to sell 100 per cent of volumes to the domestic market. However, after Black Mountain, there is little prospect of other companies holding acreage in the Kimberley supplying the rest of the state with gas. Buru Energy is developing its Rafael project, which does not need fracking to produce gas. If it goes ahead, the ASX-listed company plans to supply only the Kimberley, using trucks to deliver liquefied natural gas to the region's power stations. Image: Lock the Gate Rey Resources ceased to be an ASX-listed company in 2025 when it was taken over by private company Vigourous Resources whose majority owner was owed $22 million by Rey. In 2022 private company Theia Energy withdrew a proposal for fracking that was with the WA Environmental Protection Authority.

By Ray Wills, The University of Western Australia and Peter Newman, Curtin University Mining giant BHP has come under fire for spending hundreds of millions of dollars on new diesel trucks in the Pilbara, despite promising a transition to electric trucks in its climate strategy. Like other mining companies, BHP’s diesel-driven fleet is eligible for fuel tax credits on diesel. The company’s controversial decision to shelve its plans raises the pressing issue of the diesel fuel rebate. This rebate began as targeted support for a struggling agricultural sector in the 1980s, but has morphed into an almost $5 billion subsidy for some of the nation’s most profitable corporations. So, what is the diesel fuel rebate? And is this fossil fuel subsidy still fit for purpose? ## Why do we have a diesel rebate? Since federation in 1901, diesel and petroleum products imported into Australia have been subject to import taxes. Since 1929, tax collected from the petrol pump has been earmarked to build and maintain the nation’s road network. Australia’s diesel fuel rebate scheme was introduced in 1982. The Fuel Tax Credits Scheme, as it’s officially known, was designed to cushion farmers from rising fuel costs. Farm and mine businesses buying diesel for off-road uses like tractors, harvesters and irrigation pumps could claim a rebate. At the time, Australia’s mining sector was far smaller. Now, 44 years later, the rebate scheme still allows businesses like agriculture and mining to claim back the federal fuel tax paid on diesel used in eligible machinery, equipment and heavy vehicles. Today, the mining industry receives about half of the diesel rebate. ## Diesel up, petrol down Since 2010, Australia’s consumption of liquid fuel has changed dramatically, with official statistics showing falling petrol demand and rising diesel use over the past decade. Petrol use has gradually declined as vehicle efficiency has improved. In contrast, diesel consumption has nearly doubled. This surge in diesel consumption reflects Australia’s growth in freight, heavy vehicles and, particularly, mining. The diesel rebate scheme is now one of Australia’s largest fossil fuel subsidies, alongside tax concessions for aviation fuel and a range of support measures for coal and gas production, with recent analysis putting its annual cost at around $11.2 billion by 2026–27. Mining is by far the largest beneficiary, claiming about $5 billion a year in diesel rebates according to one analysis. This includes roughly $1.5 billion for coal mining alone. Agriculture receives only a fraction of the total. What began as support for farmers using off-road fuel has become a standing subsidy for Australia’s most profitable miners. Meanwhile, aviation fuel pays little excise – about 3 cents per litre – to fund the Civil Aviation Safety Authority. This compares to a fuel excise rate of 52c per litre on petrol and diesel, which the Australian government halved on April 1 this year in response to fuel price spikes from the US-Israeli war in Iran. Since 1992, the formal link between petrol and diesel excise and road funding has ended, with fuel tax now flowing into general revenue rather than a dedicated roads fund. The rebate was originally justified on fairness grounds – off‑road users were not meant to subsidise public roads – but once fuel tax stopped being a dedicated roads charge, that logic largely evaporated. Federal plan delivers three times more gas to WA than BrowseAustralia’s most gas-dependent state can be well supplied for decades without drilling near Scott Reef or fracking the Kimberley, according to an exclusive analysis by Boiling Cold.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## Fuel tax cuts in response to war The May 2026 federal budget fuel package was worth more than $10 billion, centred on a permanent government-owned fuel reserve. These are reminders Australia’s fuel security problem is immediate, not theoretical. The government’s response has been to buy and store more fuel, rather than reduce our structural dependence on imported oil and support a shift to electrification and renewable energy. Australia’s fuel rebate entrenches higher diesel use. But the “we need more fuel” argument ignores the fact Australia’s economy is decisively decoupling from fossil energy consumption. Uncoupling from oil is not a theoretical future possibility – it is slowly happening. Oil consumption in particular has plateaued since the early 2000s, even as GDP has roughly doubled. If Australia wants to meet its emissions-reduction commitments, it should hasten the shift away from fossil oil, not maintain a subsidy for it. ## A fair share of resources Australia has long failed to gain a fair share of revenue from our finite mineral wealth. Our petroleum resource rent tax is notoriously weak. Mining companies argue tougher taxes will drive investment offshore. But Australia has some of the world’s highest-grade iron ore, coal and critical minerals. A tax regime would have to be extraordinarily high to make extraction unprofitable. We are now in the fourth major oil crisis. Unlike the others, this one arrives with cheaper renewable alternatives readily available. Wind, solar, batteries and electric vehicles are now cheaper than fossil alternatives and faster to deploy. During a fuel crisis, we should scrutinise where our finite tax revenues are directed. The fuel rebate was designed mostly for farmers, when the mining industry was a fraction of its current size. Does the policy need to return to its original aim? Or is a new form of road user tax required? Whatever the mechanism, it makes sense to direct revenue towards electrification, not lock in another decade of diesel dependence. * * * ## Response from BHP: _In a statement, a spokesperson for BHP said it has net zero goal for reducing its scope 1 and 2 greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050._ _Despite this progress, many of the technologies the resources industry will need to achieve net zero are not yet ready to be deployed, BHP said._ _“For example, no Australian mining operation is currently utilising critical 240-ton battery-electric haul trucks as the technology is not advanced enough to scale to an operational fleet,” the spokesperson said._ _BHP is partnering with equipment producers to run trials of battery-electric equipment, including two 240-ton battery electric haul trucks, on a BHP site in the Pilbara, and four battery-electric locomotives which we plan to commence trialling in coming months._ * * * Ray Wills, Adjunct Professor, The University of Western Australia and Peter Newman, Professor of Sustainability, Curtin University This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

ANALYSIS The Federal Government's domestic gas reservation scheme would solve WA's looming gas shortage with no need for Woodside to drill near the Scott Reef for its Browse project, according to a detailed analysis by _Boiling Cold_. However, WA Premier Roger Cook is instead relying on pushing an uncertain Browse as essential and relying on gas giants Woodside and Chevron to "do the right thing" to ensure his state has sufficient affordable gas. The Albanese Government wants gas exporters to supply the Australian market with gas equivalent to 20 per cent of their exports from 2027. The effective application of this policy would deliver 3.5 times as much additional gas to WA as Woodside's proposed Browse development near the pristine Scott Reef. The extra 3166 petajoules of domestic gas to 2045 is driven not just by the Federal Government reserving 20 per cent instead of WA's 15 per cent, but also by assuming that Canberra, unlike WA, implements its policy effectively. WA's current gas export projects - Chevron's Gorgon and Wheatstone and Woodside's Pluto and North West Shelf - have supplied the equivalent of just eight per cent of their exports to WA, according to the DomGas Alliance of major gas consumers. Just achieving the 15 per cent targeted by WA's Domestic Gas Policy delivers an extra 1326 petajoules of gas to WA industry, miners and power generators - substantially more than the 913 petajoules from Browse. _Boiling Cold_ performed the analysis with the best publicly available data and reasonable, informed assumptions. It conservatively ignores the large amount of gas that exporters owe the local market due to past underdelivery. The full analysis can be downloaded below. Other approaches could reasonably produce slightly different results. However, given the vast gulf between the estimated gas volumes under the national scheme and those from the Browse development, it would not alter the conclusion that Woodside's development is not required for the local economy. ## Cook ignores the national fix Just last week, WA Premier Roger Cook framed WA's gas problem as a choice between Woodside's development of Browse and fracking for gas in WA's remote Kimberley. “We all need to be realistic about the idea that you can just somehow reject Browse,” Cook told The Australian Financial Review. “There’s a big debate around Browse at the moment, but I can tell you that all the predictions are that there’s about a Browse-sized hole in our energy supplies in the early 2030s,” Cook said, without which WA would be "forced to frack" the Kimberley. The looming hole in WA's gas supply is actually bigger than Browse. Respected gas sector consultant EnergyQuest cautioned in 2025 that Browse would only slow, not halt, the increase in gas prices, which have already doubled over the past five years. Browse cannot deliver cheaper gas to WA industry, but 3.5 times more volume from the Federal policy almost certainly would, improving the viability of crucial industries, such as critical minerals processing and fertiliser production. The only winners from Cook's choice to ignore the opportunity presented by Canberra's policy are the state's largely foreign-owned gas export projects. Woodside keeps a central pillar in its fight to win social license for Browse, and all the exporters avoid having to divert more gas to the local market, where it will fetch lower prices. A spokesman for the Premier said his government took compliance with its domestic gas reservation policy seriously “It’s the government and community’s strong expectation that Woodside, Chevron and all gas producers do the right thing and provide domestic gas to WA in accordance with the policy," he said. _Boiling Cold_ asked the Premier if expecting Woodside and Chevron to do the right thing to ensure WA has enough gas was extremely naive. No response was provided. The Premier was also asked if he would support the implementation of the national policy in WA, given it can solve WA’s gas shortage without risking drilling near Scott Reef or fracking the Kimberley. His spokesman said the state government had been assured by the Commonwealth that WA’s policy would be compatible with the national approach, and that it would wait for the Commonwealth to provide more detail before offering further comment. ## Problems with solutions Delivering the gas WA needs will require more than the Federal Parliament passing legislation. The gas companies will have to expand their domestic gas plants and pipelines, and bring forward future offshore drilling. They will cry poor and say this will be expensive, and it will be. But the costs must be weighed against their financial strength. In 2025, Chevron alone made a $2.5 billion profit from its 47 per cent stake in Gorgon and 64 per cent stake in Wheatstone. That was a bad year - the 2024 profit was twice as high, and in 2026, the US major will benefit from the US-Iran war throttling its competitors. Approvals will be an issue, but Cook could use his much vaunted State Development Act to speed things up. Crucially, the 20 per cent requirement is likely beyond what WA needs. This would allow negotiations that reward producers who move quickly with slightly reduced obligations. A solution would be complex but achievable. In contrast, relying on Browse is not only insufficient but also problematic, as it may never happen. Shell exited the project in 2023 due to likely low financial returns and high carbon emissions. Browse does not have WA or Federal environmental approvals. In 2024, the WA Environmental Protection Authority's preliminary view was that it was unacceptable due to the threat to Scott Reef from oil spills, risks to pygmy blue whales and the possibility of turtle nesting sites sinking below sea level. After years of negotiation, the Browse joint venture has not been able to agree on a deal with the North West Shelf joint venture to process its gas for export. That task is now harder after Japan's INPEX bought into Browse and likely intends to reconfigure the project to send the gas to its export plant in Darwin. It is simply irresponsible to stake WA's economy on the mirage of Browse. ## Who will supply the extra gas? Chevron's Gorgon, Australia's largest gas export project, will provide the most additional gas under the Federal 20 per cent reservation scheme. In 2014, Chevron, Shell and ExxonMobil decided Gorgon, producing 15 million tonnes a year (MTPA) of LNG, was a worthwhile investment. It included a 300 TJ/day domestic gas plant, just enough to meet WA's 15% obligation. However, the plant has produced an average of 16.8 MTPA of LNG in the past three financial years, according to annual reports filed with WA's environment regulator. To meet WA's 15 per cent target, Gorgon should deliver 340 TJ/day of gas to WA, but in 2025 it supplied just 250 TJ/day. More importantly, under the 2003 Barrow Island Act, an earlier WA Labor Government did not impose an ongoing obligation for Gorgon to supply the local market. Instead, there is a requirement to deliver 2000 PJ that will be fulfilled in about 2038. After that, under the present arrangements, WA's largest domestic gas supplier could turn off the tap. Other additional gas comes from Wheatstone and Woodside's new Scarborough gas project, meeting a 20 per cent obligation instead of 15 per cent. In the early years, there will also be significant additional volumes from Pluto that, to date, has only delivered the equivalent of four per cent of its exports to the local market. * * * ## The Calculations The complete data, references, assumptions and calculations behind this analysis can be downloaded: Future WA domestic gas supply scenariosprovided for transparency and accountabilityWA domgas analysis May 2026.xlsx304 KBdownload-circle Before entering journalism, Peter Milne worked in oil and gas for 25 years. This experience, which at Chevron included leading the economic analysis of the Gorgon project and helping negotiate the Wheatstone domestic gas agreement with the WA Government, provides the expertise to support this level of analysis. Note that consulting companies that provide analysis to governments and industry for publication never provide this level of transparency.

EXCLUSIVE Alcoa's strip mining of WA's jarrah forest is under further investigation after its "deliberate repeat breach" of environmental laws that destroyed habitat for protected species and cost it $40 million to avoid prosecution. The ongoing probe into Alcoa's clearing at its Willowdale mine was revealed in talking points for Federal Ministers prepared ahead of the February announcement of a record $55 million settlement for clearing at its Huntly mine. News of another Federal probe piles more pressure on Alcoa's bauxite mining in south west WA, which threatens Perth's water supply, has destroyed about 280 sq km of jarrah forest, none of which the company has rehabilitated in sixty years, and when refined into alumina, results in mercury-laden emissions, contaminated groundwater and millions of tonnes of unstable toxic bauxite residue. Doubling of mercury emissions from Alcoa Wagerup prompts appeals“The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want,” according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA’s alumina refineries.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Alcoa is pushing the WA and Federal Governments to approve an expansion of its northern Huntly mine, much of it around Perth's largest drinking water dam, the Serpentine. > Chief executive Bill Oplinger calls permission to strip mine more of WA's jarrah forest his "number one" lever to boost the earnings of the $25 billion company. The February deal included Alcoa spending $40 million to remedy what the Government called "a deliberate repeat breach—318 hectares cleared while under investigation" in 2023 and 2024, according to the talking points released in response to a freedom of information request. Jess Boyce, director of the WA Forest Alliance, said the Federal Government's labelling of Alcoa's clearing as a "deliberate repeat breach" indicates the company was "well aware that it was acting with blatant disregard for environmental law." "The question is, why did the Federal Government not only let this continue for two years, rather than halt clearing, but has now given Alcoa an exemption to continue clearing despite proving it can’t be trusted?" Alcoa acknowledged it destroyed the known habitat of protected species, but denied it breached the law. The breach created an "offset liability of 3000 hectares", and the Federal Government has imposed an enforceable undertaking on Alcoa to spend at least $40 million on land purchases by the end of 2026. Another undertaking to spend $15 milion covers Alcoa clearing 1777 hectares of jarrah forest - equivalent to four of Perth's Kings Park - from 2019 to 2023. * * * ⛏️ Alcoa's clearing at Huntly destroyed known habitat of: - Baudin's Black-cockatoo - endangered - Carnaby's Black-cockatoo - endangered - Forest Red-tailed Black-cockatoo or Karrak __-__ vulnerable - Woylie - endangered - Chuditch or Western Quell __-__ vulnerable - Numbat __(WA's fauna emblem) -__ endangered -Quokka __-__ vulnerable Image credits below. > The Australian environment minister "considers that the action taken by Alcoa has contravened a civil penalty ... (and) has had, or is likely to have had, **a significant impact** **on listed endangered and vulnerable species**. * * * An Alcoa spokesman said its mining, which started in the early 1960s, has historically been undertaken in accordance with WA legislation. "Our operations predate the (Federal) EPBC Act, and we have always maintained we were operating under grandfathering provisions (Section 43B “continuing use” at Huntly and Section 43A “prior authorisation” at Willowdale) of the Act", he said in a statement to _Boiling Cold._ "Section 43B was amended as part of the recent package of revisions made by the Government to the EPBC Act, meaning it could no longer be relied on at Huntly. Section 43A remains in the Act and was unchanged." The Huntly mine, which is mainly in water catchments, supplies Alcoa's Pinjarra alumina refinery. The newly revealed investigation is into possible illegal clearing at Alcoa's southern Willowdale mine, which feeds its Wagerup refinery, where a gallium plant backed by the Australian, Japanese and US governments is planned. ****Alcoa's lease extends well beyond its current mining at Huntly (red) and Willowdale (pink).**** Image: Alcoa EPA submission A spokeswoman for the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water said its investigation into land clearing at Alcoa's Willowdale mine is ongoing and it would not comment further. ## Three state probes into Alcoa Alcoa is also under investigation by WA authorities for three alleged violations of restrictions on clearing near trees suitable for black cockatoo nests. If just one breach is proven, it will invalidate the 2023 exemption to the Environmental Protection Act's prohibition on conducting an activity that is under review by WA's environmental watchdog, the EPA. Much of Alcoa's mining in WA would have to cease immediately unless the Cook Labor Government granted another exemption. The possible breaches were reported to authorities by Greens WA upper house member Jess Beckerling earlier this year. Beckerling said the 59,000 submissions to the EPA about Alcoa's proposed expansion indicated a "profound level of discontent with continued clearing of the highly biodiverse Northern Jarrah Forests." "We have a serious problem in this country with multinational corporations destroying places we love and our laws and governments being completely inadequate to rein them in," she said. __Boiling Cold__ 's unrivalled reporting on Alcoa is free for all to read, maximising impact and accountability. I need your backing to keep covering stories that would otherwise go unreported. Support independent journalism in WA * * * **Image credits** Baudin's Black-cockatoo - Jean Hort Carnaby's Black-cockatoo - Noah B Marshall Forest Red-tailed Black-cockatoo - Maclearite Woylie -Warren Garst Chuditch or Western Quell - Brett Vercoe Numbat - Seashalia Quokka - Patrick Kavanagh

EXCLUSIVE The restart of Santos' flagship Barossa gas export project encountered an array of problems in the same week that chief executive Kevin Gallagher received $5 million in company shares under a 2021 deal to reward him for the successful delivery of projects. Clogged heat exchangers, faulty valves on subsea wellheads, and accommodation doors that do not seal properly are all causing headaches for the Adelaide-based company. When Santos went ahead with the $US4.8 billion ($6.8 billion) project in 2021 to supply gas to its Darwin LNG plant, it planned to start production in the first half of 2025. The first cargo of liquefied natural gas (LNG) was sent to Asia in January. Still, there have been significant problems since, including a "planned shutdown" in March to fix compressor seals and reinforce failing pipework. On April 23, Santos told investors it expected to ramp up production from Barrosa in the next week when two vital heat exchangers were flushed and cleaned. However, that attempt to clear the equipment failed, according to multiple sources familiar with Barossa but not authorised to talk to the media. Speaking a week later, a Santos spokeswoman said it had finished clean-up operations on one heat exchanger and "indications are that it has been successful." The second exchanger was being cleaned, and Santos was "in the process" of restarting production using the first heat exchanger. "The facility, including the BW Opal, remains safe to operate," she said. Doubling of mercury emissions from Alcoa Wagerup prompts appeals“The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want,” according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA’s alumina refineries.Boiling ColdPeter Milne In addition, the closing mechanisms on eight accommodation doors that shield workers from potential gas leaks are not working properly. A spokesman for offshore safety regulator NOPSEMA said it had been told of the problem and was satisfied that interim arrangements in place until spare parts arrived meant there was no increased risk. Problems with the heat exchangers and the doors on the BW Opal production vessel are the joint responsibility of Norwegian firm BW Offshore, which owns and operates the vessel under a $US4.6 billion contract, and Santos, which leases it on behalf of the Barossa joint venture. It is an unusual contractual arrangement in the Australian oil and gas sector, where the norm is for the production joint venture to own all crucial plant and facilities. Several industry sources told _Boiling Cold_ that having two companies involved was complicating the vessel's commissioning. In February, BW Offshore told investors it expected the BW Opal to reach full capacity by the end of March It was also expected to achieve Practical Completion on its contract with Santos by mid-March - a contractual milestone that requires the Opal to be safe and functional with nothing but minor issues to be addressed. Australian oil & gas lags in disclosing $44b clean-up billSantos’ decommissioning liability matches a quarter of its $22b value, but its disclosures to investors fared poorly against the latest accounting standards, according to an international survey.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## Production choked underwater On the seabed, up to 280m below the BW Opal, vital valves have failed on some of the six wellheads installed by Santos. Choke valves on two wellheads, which control the flow of oil and gas from the underground reservoir to the vessel, were replaced during commissioning, and another well has a suspected choke failure, according to Santos. "An initiative is in place to proactively change out any others as required," the Santos spokeswoman said. This degree of failure of vital subsea components early in a project's life is uncommon in the offshore oil and gas industry. Valves are normally subject to stringent independent quality assurance during manufacturing, and then, when the wellhead is assembled, they are tested thoroughly onshore. The effort is intended to avoid costly repairs on the seabed and even more expensive loss of production. The Santos spokeswoman said that just two of the six wells are sufficient for Barossa to operate at full capacity. The Barossa project is operated and 50 per cent owned by Santos. The other joint venture partners are Japan's JERA with a 12.5 per cent stake, and the Korean firm SK, which owns 37.5 per cent through its Australian subsidiary PRISM Energy International Australia. The total cost estimate for Barossa is $US4.822 billion ($6.8 billion). It comprises the initial 2021 decision to invest $US3.6 million in offshore development and $US600 million to upgrade the Darwin LNG plant, plus the $US622 million decision 18 months later to undertake additional offshore pipeline work to allow CO2 from the reservoir to be stored in the future. The capital cost would have been much higher if Santos had bought a production vessel, rather than leased it.

The cost to clean up Alcoa's Kwinana alumina refinery and its toxic tailings has driven the aluminium specialist's Australian operation to a $592 million loss in 2025. The US company booked a $1.245 billion restructuring charge, predominantly driven by the closure of the refinery south of Perth, according to the 2025 accounts of Alcoa of Australia Limited, filed with corporate regulator ASIC. The charge included $614 million to cover future costs to close facilities and rehabilitate the environment, indicating that Alcoa significantly underestimated these costs in prior accounts. Alcoa's $592 million loss in Australia in 2025 followed an $818 million profit in 2024. Alcoa's operations in Australia are its strip mining of bauxite in the jarrah forest water catchments along the Darling Scarp, alumina refineries in Pinjarra and Wagerup, and a 55 per cent stake in the Portland aluminium smelter in Victoria. It received $6.1 billion from alumina and aluminium sales last year, paid $4.9 billion to employees and suppliers, and sent $636 million of dividends to its owners. The Kwinana-related restructuring charge is a one-off, suggesting Alcoa's Australian operation will likely return to profitability in 2026. ****Alcoa's bauxite residue dump at Kwinana spans about 2km by 2km.**** Image: Google Maps ## A contaminated mist to dispose of toxic water Alcoa has a stockpile of 141 million cubic metres of toxic red mud, accumulated over six decades of alumina refining at Kwinana, that is proving difficult to manage. In 2009, Alcoa's Kwinana bauxite residue area was classified as a contaminated site requiring remediation due to alkali groundwater contamination within and beyond its boundaries. In 2025, Alcoa increased the funds set aside for rehabilitating Kwinana by $614 million to cover the costs of water management and new designs for long-term landforms. The move follows a $341 million charge in 2024 for managing water at Kwinana. The company is required under the Contaminated Sites Act to continually extract contaminated groundwater beneath the bauxite tailings to prevent the contamination from spreading. This water was disposed of by using it in the refinery, where it evaporated. With the refinery shut down, Alcoa now has permission to operate 37 giant sprinklers to spray thousands of tonnes of contaminated water an hour in a fine mist over the tailings, allowing some of it to evaporate. The sprays are an interim measure until Alcoa can construct a wastewater treatment plant that received regulatory approval in February. ## Approval delays and low-grade bauxite The $23 billion company is also facing problems in the jarrah forests of WA, where it sources three quarters of its bauxite - the ore that aluminium is extracted from. Alcoa has delayed by two years plans to expand its Huntly mine that supplies the Pinjarra refinery, according to its 2025 annual report lodged with US regulator the SEC. ****The WA and Federal regulators are assessing Alcoa's planned expansion into the Myara North and Holyoake areas.**** Source: Alcoa The US miner anticipates it will start mining the Myara North and Holyoake regions of its mine "no earlier than 2029." The target, in its 2024 report, was "no earlier than 2027." Alcoa has been mining lower-grade bauxite in WA since 2023, when approvals to access new areas slowed and came with greater restrictions due to concerns that its deforestation risked contaminating dams vital to Perth's water supply. Perth’s water supply at ‘high risk’ from Alcoa bauxite mining, expert study findsExclusive: GHD identified contamination threats to dams inland of Perth from sewage, oil spills, and soil erosionThe GuardianPeter Milne For five consecutive years, annual bauxite production has declined. However, the alumina Alcoa shipped from WA was still among the cheapest 25 per cent of global production, according to the report to the SEC, but WA production could slip into the second quartile of costs until Alcoa gains access to new mining areas. * * * _Boiling Cold_ reporting featured in _Juice Media_ 's recent take on Alcoa in WA. Please support journalism holding resource companies to account - because WA Labor and _The West Australian_ certainly will not. ****Boiling Cold's journalism featured on Juice Media's "Honest Government Ad" on Alcoa - click to watch.****

Cyclone Narelle has shut down Jadestone Energy's Stag oil field, that now has a sinking mooring for oil tankers and damaged casings around wells drilled from the platform. A number of industry sources told _Boiling Cold_ that the cyclone left Stag, 60km north west of Dampier, with a CALM buoy that has lost buoyancy, and conductors that extend 70 m from the platform deck to the seabed, requiring repairs. The UK-listed and Singapore-headquartered company may not have fully disclosed the cyclone's full impact to offshore regulator NOPSEMA. A NOPSEMA spokeswoman said the company reported that the CALM buoy was damaged, but it was "following up with Jadestone regarding damage to other safety-critical equipment to understand the circumstances, including whether all relevant reporting obligations have been met," she said. "As part of normal practice, NOPSEMA will investigate where the need arises, and where there is potential non-compliance, appropriate regulatory action will be taken." ****Oil is continuously loaded onto a tanker connected to the CALM buoy.**** Image: Stag Environment Plan The CALM buoy sits about 2km from the Stag platform, tethered to the seabed with six chains. It allows oil to continually flow from the platform to a waiting oil tanker. The platform cannot store oil, so there can be no production until the CALM buoy is retrieved and then repaired or replaced. The buoy has six watertight compartments and is designed to remain stable if one is flooded, according to the Stag environment plan, indicating that more than one compartment has been breached. ****Stag's CALM buoy can secure 150,000 tonne tankers****. Image: ONA Consultants Jadestone told investors on March 30 that Stag was damaged after winds from Cyclone Narelle exceeded 200 km/hr, but released no details. Jadestone started shutting down Stag on March 23, and pipelines were cleared of oil and workers moved to shore. A spokeswoman told _Boiling Cold_ that while its damage assessment was continuing, "there has been a partial loss of buoyancy in the CALM buoy and damage to some of the well conductors." "We will provide an update in due course when further information is available." The NOPSEMA spokeswoman said Cyclone Narelle was an extreme storm running down the coast of WA, impacting many offshore facilities. "The industry activated cyclone preparedness plans immediately, and no injuries or major environmental incidents have been reported," she said. Jadestone is claiming insurance for the damage to Stag and the cost of lost production and does not expect Cyclone Narelle will have a material financial impact. Doubling of mercury emissions from Alcoa Wagerup prompts appeals“The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want,” according to a long-term campaigner for better regulation of WA’s alumina refineries.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## An Australian oil portfolio with a big clean up bill Jadestone produced 11,000 barrels of oil a day in Australia in 2024 from three projects that together impose a $US438 million ($614 million) clean-up liability on it. The $277 million company's other Australian interests are the Montara oil field it owns and operates in the Timor Sea and a 33 per cent stake in some Carnarvon Basin oil fields operated by Woodside. Jadestone, then called Mitra Energy, bought Stag off Santos in 2016 for $US10 million ($14 million). Stag has been in the red for each of the five years to 2024, according to accounts filed with corporate regulator ASIC, with a total loss of $US63 million ($88 million). During that time, annual daily production has fluctuated between a high of 2,672 barrels a day in 2023 to a low of 2,005 barrels a day in 2024. Stag contributes about five per cent of Jadestone's production. Jadestone has recorded a $US127 million ($179 million) liability for decommissioning Stag and expects work to begin in 2036. The accounts note that this estimate assumes some equipment can be left on the seabed based on past decisions by NOPSEMA despite "under Australian legislation, complete removal of offshore assets is mandated." Montara produced 5262 barrels of oil a day in 2024 and made a loss of $US15 million ($21 million), according to the latest annual report filed with ASIC. In September 2025 NOPSEMA directed Jadestone to urgently address corrosion on its 36-year-old Montara Venture oil vessel which "may pose significant safety and environmental risks." Production from Montara was threatened by industrial action by workers for Jadestone subcontractor Legineering just as oil prices are at record highs. However, the union Offshore Alliance announced on Monday that its members had accepted a pay rise deal. Jadestone has a provison of $US201 million ($282 million) for decommissioning Montara and expects work to start in 2031. Jadestone slammed for dangerous corrosion in WA oil vesselNOPSEMA has ordered Jadestone to urgently address corrosion on its aged Montara Venture oil vessel in the Timor Sea, which “may pose significant safety and environmental risks.”Boiling ColdPeter Milne In 2022 Jadestone bought a one-sixth share of the Cossack, Wanaea, Lambert and Hermes (CWLH) oil fields fom BP and in early 2024 doubled its stake with a purchase from Japan Australia LNG, a Mitsui and Mitsibishi joint venture. In 2024 Jadestone's share of production averaged 3711 barrels of oil a day and it made a $US36 million ($50 million) profit from CWLH. It has provisioned $US110 million ($154 million) for its share of the cost of decommisioning from 2037 onwards. Like Stag, this estimate assumes NOPSEMA will allow some equipment to be left in the ocean. Jadestone has contributed $US169 million ($237 million) to a trust fund to cover this future cost at CWLH. The CWLH fields are not curently producing as the Okha production vessel sailed to Singapore for planned maintenance in January. Jadestone Energy's Australian subsidiaries have entered into a deed poll with the the Australian Government to ensure ithe decommissioning costs will be paid when they arise. The parent company must provide financial security to the Government when its future after tax tax flow is no longer 25 per cent higher than its decommissioning liability.

Environment and community groups have lodged appeals against a licence extension for Alcoa's Wagerup alumina refinery, where emissions of toxic mercury have nearly doubled over the past few years. The concerns focus on the effect of mercury on wildlife, dust emissions, and inadequate monitoring of emissions. The Conservation Council of WA (CCWA) has slammed as inadequate changes to Alcoa's licence conditions made by the WA Department of Water and Environmental Regulation (DWER), after an eight-year review that is not yet complete. CCWA director Matt Roberts said it seems the WA environment regulator has taken no action while emissions of the toxic metal have grown substantially. 'This raises serious questions about our state regulator’s capacity to effectively hold the US-based miner to account,” Mr Roberts said. An Alcoa spokesman said emissions have grown due to problems with condensers used to capture the toxic metal and variations in the mercury content of bauxite mined to feed the refinery, but remain within safe limits. He said Alcoa expected to fix the problems in the condensers "in coming months." For the past two years, about 70 per cent of the mercury in bauxite mined for Wagerup has been emitted into the atmosphere, according to data in the DWER report. A few years earlier, when condenser corrosion was less severe, just 40 per cent of the mercury escaped. Roberts said nothing excused the ongoing release of mercury into the environment, with more than eight threatened species living within 2km of the refinery. ## Non-human risks not assessed An Alcoa-commissioned health risk assessment (HRA) completed in 2020 concluded that emissions from the refinery, including mercury, presented a low risk to humans. The Alcoa spokesman said the HRA methodology was robust and conservative. The company told DWER that ground-level mercury concentrations could increase 20-fold before there was a health risk. However, Roberts is concerned that the effect of mercury on plants and wildlife has not been considered. “Mercury is a dangerous neurotoxin which bioaccumulates in the environment," he said. “The licence application provided no research on the mercury levels in the environment or in threatened species like the numbat, chuditch, western ringtail possum, the rainbow bee-eater, black cockatoos, and Carter’s freshwater mussel." _Boiling Cold_ asked Alcoa and DWER what had been done to show the mercury emissions were safe for non-human life. The company did not respond. A spokesman for the regulator said it would be inappropriate to comment as the licence extension it granted to Alcoa had been referred to the Office of the Appeals Convenor. DWER also did not say why the first stage of its review of Alcoa's Wagerup license took eight years, or how long stage 2, which will consider water quality and volatile organic compound emissions, will take. Labor breaks vow and risks WA’s water supply for AlcoaRoger Cook granting Alcoa greater access to mine near Perth’s dams risks could cost taxpayers billions of dollars and result in water restrictionsBoiling ColdPeter Milne ## Fine dust a big concern Emissions of ultrafine dust smaller than 2.5 millionths of a metre (PM2.5) from Wagerup have increased more than fourfold in the past decade, according to the DWER report. Fine dust particles can be invisible, are readily inhaled, and are associated with a range of poor health outcomes. Emissions of larger but still serious PM10 particles have almost doubled in 10 years. However, Alcoa does not directly measure the total amount of PM2.5 and PM10 dust particles it emits; instead, it relies on calculations. In its appeal, CCWA has called on DWER to explain how it concluded that just one PM2.5 monitoring station would be sufficient for the 2.9 million tonnes of aluminium produced annually at the refinery. __Boiling Cold__ 's unrivalled reporting on Alcoa is free for all to read, maximising impact and accountability. I need your backing to keep covering stories that would otherwise go unreported. Support independent journalism in WA Another appeal against the extension of Wagerup's license is from the Community Alliance for Positive Solutions (CAPS). CAPS chair Vince Puccio worked for Alcoa for 25 years and has campaigned for better regulation of WA's alumina refineries for three decades. He was born in Yarloop, a town south of the Wagerup refinery that is now partly abandoned due to dust and emissions from the refinery. CAPS has never called for Wagerup to close, but it does want a significant change to how Alcoa manages dust and mercury, saying in its submission that many of DWER's conclusions are not soundly based in science. _"The government is allowing Alcoa to do whatever they friggin want," Pucio said._ "There needs to be a balance where industry, government, and community can work for the common good." The Australian, US, and Japanese governments plan to produce the strategic rare earth metal gallium at the Wagerup refinery, which could make any restriction on its operation politically sensitive. Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt relied on the proposed gallium plant to justify his February decision not to prosecute Alcoa for years of clearing jarrah forest without federal environmental approval. The three alumina refineries operating in WA's south-west all emit significant amounts of mercury. Alcoa closed the original Kwinana refinery in 2025. Like Wagerup, emissions from Alcoa's 4.7 million tonnes a year Pinjarra refinery have grown steadily since about 2010. In 2025, it emitted 30 per cent more mercury per million tonnes of capacity than Wagerup. South32's Worsley refinery had, until recently, pumped as much mercury into the atmosphere as Pinjarra. ****Alcoa's sprawling Pinjarra refinery and bauxite residue dumps.**** Image: Peel Environmental Protection Alliance. Mercury from Wagerup adds to a growing list of concerns about Alcoa's operation in WA, including threatening Perth's water supply and failing to complete the rehabilitation of a single hectare of strip-mined jarrah forest after more than six decades of mining.

_By Adrian Black_ Australia's second-biggest oil and gas company has come under fire for its tax contributions, as tensions over domestic prices and export royalties heat up. Australian taxpayers receive a tiny fraction of the nation's massive windfall from natural gas exports while watching their own bills creep higher, new research claims. Oil and gas giant Santos has paid $33 million in corporate income tax in 10 years, representing 0.08 per cent of $41 billion in revenue from its Australian operations, according to a report by financial activist group Market Forces. That amounts to less than one cent paid on every dollar of sales. "Santos is fuelling catastrophic climate change and the huge rise in Australian household gas prices, all while sending the country's gas overseas for bigger profits," research head Kyle Robertson said on Wednesday. But Santos rejected the claims. > "Santos has no intention of responding to misinformation from Market Forces, a climate campaign organisation affiliated with Friends of the Earth, that wants to stop investment in oil and gas at a time when the world needs more investment in these critical fuels," a Santos spokesman said in a statement. The Market Forces report on Santos comes as pressure mounts on the federal government to reform how Australia taxes gas and oil exports, as commodity prices surge on the back of the Middle East conflict. In the oil and gas giant's latest tax disclosure statement for 2024, Santos declared Australian accounting revenue of $US2.36 billion ($A3.35 billion). It recorded $US19 million ($A27 million) in tax payable after deductions including exploration costs, petroleum resource rent tax, depreciation and other capital allowances. The payable tax amounted to about 6.3 per cent of its $US303 million ($A430 million) pre-tax profit, or 0.8 per cent of its 2024 Australian revenue. Santos shuts down Barossa LNG amidst global gas crunchThe troubled $6 billion flagship will be out of action “for a number of weeks,” just as Santos’ customers are desperate for gas to replace supply from the Middle East.Boiling ColdPeter Milne The document showed Santos paid more than $US1 billion ($A1.4 billion) to Australian and foreign governments in tax and royalties, although that included $US295 million in employee taxes, such as pay as you go (PAYG) income tax payments. According to the disclosure, Santos paid the Australian government $US17 million ($A24 million), and paid Papua New Guinea $US420 million ($A595 million), despite producing significantly more gas in Australia. The Labor government is backing a parliamentary inquiry into the tax regime, and the prime minister's department has reportedly ordered Treasury to model "new levy options" on the gas industry. Independent ACT Senator David Pocock has been calling for an east coast gas reservation, by diverting uncontracted gas to the domestic market, along with a 25 per cent tax on gas export revenue. "Gas companies and especially Santos cannot be trusted to do the right thing by Australian households and businesses," Mr Pocock told AAP. The gas industry, along with the federal opposition, argues that new taxes would stifle investment. Under a federal scheme to commence in 2027, exporters will reserve between 15 and 25 per cent of gas for domestic use.

Three plants that supply almost half of WA's gas are out of action Friday morning after Cyclone Narelle tore through the state's main offshore gas facilities on Thursday. Chevron's Wheatstone LNG project near Onslow, Santos' Varanus Island domestic gas plant, and Woodside's North West Shelf plant near Karratha are all not producing liquefied natural gas for export or gas for the domestic market. Together, the three plants have supplied 44 per cent of WA's gas so far in 2026. Additionally, Chevron's Gorgon project on Barrow Island has one of its three LNG trains out of action but is continuing to supply gas into its pipeline to the mainland. The shutdowns do not necessarily mean WA gas users will not get the fuel they need. The Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline is a significant store of gas, and there are two underground gas stores in the state. Shutdowns after a cyclone are not uncommon, and some of the shuttered plants may be able to be restarted quickly. A Santos spokesperson said it prepared for Cyclone Narelle, including ensuring facilities in the cyclone’s forecast radius were safe and secured, and non-essential personnel evacuated. "As the cyclone passed over, the (Varanus Island) plant has tripped," she said. "Once weather conditions have abated and personnel can safely re-enter the plant, we'll return to normal operations. “We will keep authorities notified as appropriate." WA Labor veteran slams “baseless” claims that gas is good for the climateWoodside and other exporters have a “shocking record” of not providing evidence that gas helps reduce carbon emissions, according to Chris Tallentire.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Chevron has had problems at both its WA facilities. The offshore platform that supplies gas to the Wheatstone plant stopped working at midday on Thursday, ending production of gas for export and local use. “As is standard practice during significant weather events, all personnel were demobilised from the Wheatstone Platform ahead of the cyclone passing, which has been operated remotely from our Perth office since Tuesday afternoon," a Chevron spokesman said. Three hours later, the Gorgon plant had an outage at one of its three LNG trains. “Severe weather associated with the passing of Tropical Cyclone Narelle likely caused the interruptions to both Gorgon and Wheatstone operations," he said. “We will resume full production at both facilities once it is safe to do so.” Woodside would not confirm the shutdown of the North West Shelf plant that _Boiling Cold_ has heard of from multiple industry sources not authorised to speak to the media. A Woodside spokeswoman said it was continuing to supply domestic gas to its customers from its WA assets. "If there is any material impact to production or assets, Woodside will update the market in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations." **TO BE UPDATED**

Woodside's sprawling Karratha gas plant in WA's north is without power after Cyclone Narelle passed by on Thursday, according to multiple industry sources not authorised to speak to the media. _Boiling Cold_ understands that __ the North West Shelf (NWS) project's four liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, gas turbine power generators and the domestic gas plant are all down. The outage at Australia's oldest liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant comes a week after the nation's newest - Santos' Barossa - unexpectedly shut down for several weeks. Santos shuts down Barossa LNG amidst global gas crunchThe troubled $6 billion flagship will be out of action “for a number of weeks,” just as Santos’ customers are desperate for gas to replace supply from the Middle East.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Both unplanned shutdowns come while gas-dependent nations scramble for LNG to replace the supply blocked behind the Strait of Hormuz. Australia's gas customers were looking for more of the vital fuel, but may instead get less than they had expected. The flow of gas from the NWS into the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline (DBNGP), which supplies the south west of the state, has ceased. The pipeline acts as a significant store of gas, preventing any immediate effect on supply. Any concern about WA having sufficient gas would be eased by the recent unplanned shutdown of Yara's ammonia plant, which will free up gas for other users. Australia’s top fertiliser input plant shuts for 2 monthsThe shutdown of the Yara Pilbara plant comes as a quarter of global trade in ammonia, used for urea fertiliser and mining explosives, is blocked by war.Boiling ColdPeter Milne _Boiling Cold_ asked Woodside about the state of its facilities in WA's north and when production is likely to recommence. A Woodside spokesperson said the company is monitoring the progress of Cyclone Narelle. "Our priority is the safety of our people, the environment and our assets," she said, "Our offshore workforce has been safely demobilised in line with our cyclone preparation arrangements, "If there is any material impact to production or assets, Woodside will update the market in accordance with its continuous disclosure obligations." **UPDATES TO COME**

Santos, which has seen its share price jump 19 per cent in a month due to a global oil and gas shortage, has quietly shut down its flagship Barossa LNG export project for several weeks. Twenty per cent of global liquefied natural gas (LNG) capacity is isolated by the Strait of Hormuz, which Iran has blocked. The shutdown of the Darwin LNG plant, which processes gas from the Barossa offshore gas field, will deprive its customers of desperately needed supplies and prevent Santos from benefiting from sky-high prices for any uncontracted production capacity. ## A "planned shutdown" On March 19, Santos emailed stakeholders in the Darwin area about a "planned shutdown" of its 3.7 million tonnes-per-year Darwin LNG plant. "Flaring will occur at the facility and may continue for a number of weeks until the plant is restarted and operational," the email seen by _Boiling Cold_ said. Only four weeks ago, BW Offshore, the owner of the Barossa offshore production vessel, seemed unaware of any planned shutdown. The Norwegian company told investors it expected the Opal to reach full capacity by the end of March. The vessel may now produce nothing on March 31. ****The Barossa gas field is 300km north of Darwin.**** Image: Santos In the 27 February presentation, BW Offshore said commissioning of the 358m-long vessel had been delayed by the need to reinforce pipes carrying seawater and to replace gas seals on compressors. BW Offshore had expected to achieve Practical Completion on its contract with Santos by mid-March - a contractual milestone that typically would require the Opal to be safe and functional with nothing but minor issues to be addressed. Santos went ahead with the $US3.95 billion ($5.7 billion) Barossa project in 2021. That cost excludes the construction of the BW Opal owned by BW Offshore. Barossa has required substantial drilling, construction of almost 400km of subsea pipeline, and the refurbishment of the 20-year-old Darwin LNG plant, which had been used to process gas from the now-shuttered Bayu Undan field. Australia’s top fertiliser input plant shuts for 2 monthsThe shutdown of the Yara Pilbara plant comes as a quarter of global trade in ammonia, used for urea fertiliser and mining explosives, is blocked by war.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Santos missed its end-of-year deadline to ship gas from Barossa, and the first carrier left the Darwin LNG plant on 25 January. Darwin Port data, going back to February 20, shows that the only LNG carrier to dock at the Darwin LNG berth in that period has been the Kool Husky on February 27. The Darwin Port shipping schedule had shown that another LNG carrier, the Bishu Maru, was to arrive on March 16, but the berthing was later cancelled. The vessel is now going back and forth north of Darwin, according to the vessel tracking site _Marine Traffic_. Santos did not respond to the questions sent by _Boiling Cold_ on Friday. The Barossa LNG project is operated and 50 per cent owned by Santos. Japan's JERA holds a 12.5 per cent stake, and the Korean firm PRISM Energy International Australia owns 37.5 per cent.

Australia's largest ammonia plant will be shut for two months to repair damage caused by a power outage, amidst a global supply crunch for the vital fertiliser and explosives ingredient. More than a quarter of the world's traded ammonia flows through the Strait of Hormuz, as do 43 per cent of urea shipments - the fertiliser made from ammonia. That flow has been cut to a trickle since the United States and Israel attacked Iran, as have vital gas supplies, causing fertiliser plants in India to shut. Yara's Pilbara plant, which uses gas to produce 850,000 tonnes of ammonia a year, suffered a power outage last week, damaging equipment. A spokesman for the Norwegian company said workers and the environment were unaffected, and initial assessments indicated repairs could take about two months. "Yara well understands the importance of its products to customers and will work to bring the operations back online as soon as practical," he said. An adjacent plant, half-owned by Australia's Orica, uses 140,000 tonnes of the ammonia to make the explosive technical ammonium nitrate (TAN) for WA's mining sector. The remaining ammonia is shipped to Australian and international customers, and much of it is used to make urea fertiliser. Alcoa lied about jarrah forest rehabilitation: ad watchdogThe Ad Standards decision has demolished a key plank of the US miner’s expensive campaign to win public support for expanded mining in WA.Boiling ColdPeter Milne The shutdown could not have come at a worse time for Australia's farmers, who last year imported 1.2 million tonnes of urea in April and May for use before or shortly after seeding. Three-quarters came from the Gulf nations, where shipping is now severely curtailed after the United States and Israel attacked Iran. ## Mining relies on explosives Australia's largest export could also be affected. For the next two months, WA's iron ore miners no longer have 330,000 tonnes a year of TAN produced on their doorstep. The explosive is used in vast quantities to blast rock so it can be collected, crushed and shipped to port. The degree of disruption to production, if any, will depend on the stocks of TAN the miners hold and whether they can source other supplies at short notice. Wesfarmers subsidiary CSBP runs WA's second-largest ammonia plant in Kwinana near Perth. CSBP uses Kwinana's 255,000 tonnes a year output and additional imported ammonia to make ammonium nitrate for fertilisers and explosives. CSBP would not say if any of its imported ammonia came from Yara. "It is standard business practice for us to continually monitor and manage our supply chain to ensure we meet customer demand," a company spokeswoman said.

WA Premier Roger Cook has all but closed the door on easing his ban on exporting onshore gas as turmoil in global oil and gas markets shows the benefits of local supply. The WA Government has prohibited the export of onshore gas from 2031, but _Boiling Cold_ understands some producers have been ferociously lobbying for significant exemptions. Cook launched a pitch to sell WA as a "state of energy" on Tuesday - based on renewable energy firming by batteries and gas, providing affordable and secure power - which needs a continued supply of gas to be a success. "The opportunity for the energy to transition to provide energy independence for Western Australia ... to become less reliant on others, less susceptible to global shocks, to stand on our own two feet," was the aim, he told the Energy Exchange Australia conference. Gas leftover from exports not enough for WA: AEMORising gas prices resulting in job losses are inevitable unless the WA government mandates more supply from gas exporters.Boiling ColdPeter Milne When asked by _Boiling Cold_ whether the push for energy independence makes exemptions from the gas ban unlikely, Cook did not rule out some flexibility to help make potential projects more viable, but was adamant that local supply was the priority. "You can absolutely rest assured that our domestic gas reservation policy will be an important part of what we do," he said. > "I think you know what our position on this is - it was first brought in by Gallop, tightened by McGowan, and I've had a go at it, > "In the current global uncertainty, we'll want that domestic gas for WA businesses and families." In just seven years, Australia's most gas-dependent state has flipped from using the promise of cheap and abundant gas to lure investment to a doubling of prices and shortages predicted within a few years. Cook acknowledged the changed role of the fuel, warning of "the rising costs of coal and gas-fired power generation." The ban on exporting onshore gas leaves the Browse field as the only realistic option for Woodside to keep its ageing North West Shelf gas plant operating beyond the 2030's when the project's own fields are expected to be depleted. Black Mountain Energy, which plans to use fracking to produce gas in the Kimberley, has an exemption from the export ban, but the project is unlikely to happen. Is Black Mountain’s Kimberley dream fracking impossible?Investors beware: after spending more than $40 million in the Canning Basin, the US-owned company’s continued pursuit of remote gas appears to be throwing good money after bad.Boiling ColdPeter Milne

Vermilion Energy, slammed by Australia's offshore regulator NOPSEMA for repeated non-compliance with its environmental protection plan, has barely made a profit from its Wandoo oil field off WA over the past decade. The low-profile Canadian firm's total profit from its only offshore production was just $550,000 over the years 2015 to 2024, according to annual reports filed by its Australian subsidiary with the corporate regulator ASIC. The 2025 report is not yet available. Over that decade, annual production fell 47 per cent, and in 2025 it dipped a further two per cent. ## Delay in new safety plan Safety on an oil and gas facility offshore Australia is governed by a safety case document produced by the operator and approved by NOPSEMA. The focus is on avoiding low probability but high consequence "major accident events" that could kill numerous workers. Vermilion submitted a required update to its Wandoo safety case in June 2025, according to a NOPSEMA spokesman. "The revision was not accepted," he said. "NOPSEMA assesses safety cases and revisions against legislative requirements and will not accept them where those requirements are not met." _Boiling Cold_ understands Vermilion was told in July what it needed to fix. Eight months later it has not submitted an improved safety case to the regulators. A Vermilion spokesman said it originally submitted the safety case just before significant legislative changes. "Vermilion is now incorporating the relevant updates to its safety case in line with NOPSEMA’s process and expectations and the new legislation," he said. The legislative changes were published in December 2024, seven months before Vermilion submitted the safety case, and came into effect in June 2025. ## Regulator damns environmental protection at Wandoo In February, the regulator ordered Vermilion to stop loading oil tankers after it found the company had not demonstrated that the Wandoo oil export system was fit for service. Vermilion has now implemented temporary measures to make the system safe and recommenced export of stored oil on February 27. However, it has been directed to completely replace the export system by December 2027. NOPSEMA also had broader concerns about Vermilion's inadequate maintenance and failure to comply with its own plan to protect the environment around Wandoo. There have been four minor oil spills in the past five years, and it seems Vermilion ignored warnings to shape up. "These issues reflect recurring themes from earlier inspections and show that corrective actions and assurance processes have not fully addressed the underlying causes," the regulator noted in its direction. "These matters have been repeatedly communicated to VOGA (Vermilion Oil & Gas Australia)." Regulator shuts Wandoo oil field off WA after spillCanadian firm Vermilion judged the chance of the December spill as “rare” - the same probability it claims for seven planned exploration wells that could affect anywhere along the Pilbara coast.Boiling ColdPeter Milne VOGA has until early June to complete an independent third-party review into its management of health, safety and the environment. Vermilion vice president for international operations and health, safety, and the environment, Darcy Kerwin, told investment analysts last week that the NOPSEMA direction was "kind of a standard regulator response in a situation like that." Wandoo has not produced oil since the facility was damaged by Cyclone Mitchell in early February. Vermilion chief executive Dion Hatcher said the company planned to restart production in the June quarter. Hatcher was speaking after announcing Vermilion lost $CAD654 million ($689 million) in 2025, its third consecutive year in the red. __Boiling Cold__ keeps an informed and independent eye on WA's powerful oil and gas sector and is free for all to read, maximising impact and accountability. I need your backing to keep covering stories that would otherwise go unreported. Support independent journalism in WA ## Exploration success or earlier clean-up cost Vermilion is preparing to search for more oil to produce from its Wandoo facility. "Vermilion has every intention of operating the platform to its 2037 end of life," a company spokesman said. In February, NOPSEMA approved a Vermilion plan to survey the seabed around Wandoo for suitable locations for a drill rig. Vermilion has a follow-up plan with the regulator for assessment to drill up to seven exploration wells in 2026 or 2027. If Vermilion does not drill the exploration wells, or if the results are disappointing, it will likely have to decommission the Wandoo facilities earlier than expected. Vermilion's consultants estimate decommissioning the steel Wandoo A platform, and pipelines will cost $103 million, and abandoning the wells an additional $106 million, according to th VOGA 2024 annual filing to ASIC. However, Vermilion has assumed it can leave the Wandoo B concrete gravity structure in the ocean forever, and has not allowed for its removal in the asset retirement obligations it discloses to investors. The massive sub-structure was built in Bunbury with 28,000 cubic metres of concrete and 8500 tonnes of steel and can store 400,000 barrels of oil. Above it is a 6500 tonne steel topsides structure. The cost to remove Wandoo B, likely many times greater than for Wandoo A, may not be easily avoided under current arrangements. Santos, Australia's second-largest oil and gas company, is reported to be lobbying the Federal Government to shift from its default position that all equipment is removed from the ocean. Vermilion slashed the book value of Wandoo by two-thirds to $84 million in its 2025 annual report, released on Thursday, Australian time, which said the price-related impairment was "not an indication of deterioration in the performance or outlook" of Wandoo. The accounting adjustment was determined before the US and Israeli attack on Iran, and the subsequent closure of the Strait of Hormuz pushed oil prices skywards.

ANALYSIS Australia's oil and gas sector faces a $44 billion bill to clean up the ocean, with more to do onshore, but it badly lags the UK and Canada in revealing this liability to investors, according to international energy finance analysts Carbon Tracker. Carbon Tracker examined how well 38 companies disclosed information about decommissioning liabilities, using 15 metrics that it considered the minimum disclosure required under updates to international accounting standards. Australian companies, on average, disclosed just 19 per cent of the required metrics, less than half their foreign counterparts, the report released in December concluded. > **"Investors in these companies have little to no insight into the extent of (decommissioning) liabilities ... and the potential impacts of the different risks and uncertainties."** > Carbon Tracker on Australian oil and gas firms Barbara Davidson, head of capital markets transparency at Carbon Tracker, said investors cannot understand the risks embedded in these long-term liabilities without transparent assumptions, payment schedules and sensitivities. "Yet our findings also show that better disclosure is achievable," she said. "As the energy transition accelerates, incomplete reporting leaves markets exposed to growing financial and regulatory risks.” ## Decommissioning is a big deal The poor level of disclosure is at odds with the importance of provisions for decommissioning (or restoration) in assessing a company's value. The restoration provision for Santos, Australia's second-largest fossil fuel producer, is equivalent to a quarter of its current market value. For smaller firms, Beach and Amplitude, the liability is equal to 44 per cent and 58 per cent of their value, respectively. Carbon Tracker assessed the companies against new guidance issued by the International Accounting Standards Board in November. In January, the Australian Accounting Standards Board moved to implement these changes by issuing new examples on how to disclose uncertainties in estimating decommissioning liabilities, to be applied for the 2025/26 financial year. The revision promotes more detailed disclosure of assumptions about future uncertainties. For decommissioning, it points to the need to detail liabilities far into the future if there is a risk, such as climate change, that they may occur sooner. Investors need more granularity to assess if the risks associated with investing in oil and gas do not outweigh the promised returns. ## Restoration calculations are not simple The liability a company records on its balance sheet for decommissioning is driven by four factors: the amount of infrastructure it expects to remove, when it will be removed, the cost for that work, and the discount rate used to convert future expenditure to today's dollars. All factors have room for legitimate variation in the estimate, but also ample opportunity to manipulate the recorded liability downward. Carbon Tracker notes that Woodside, Santos, Beach, and Amplitude all assume their offshore pipelines can be left in situ: industry jargon for leaving them in the ocean. This is despite the federal regulator NOPSEMA's base case that all property is removed. On costs, globally, oil and gas companies have a history of underestimating decommissioning costs, with a survey of projects in the UK North Sea revealing the true costs were, on average, 76 per cent higher than the estimates. Locally, ExxonMobil appears to be an example of inadequate restoration provisions. In 2019, the US major's accounts lodged with the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) revealed a $1.94 billion provision for restoration, predominantly for its 50 per cent of the Bass Strait operation it owns with Woodside. Now, despite spending nearly $1.5 billion for its share of Bass Strait work in recent years, it has a restoration provision of $3.6 billion. Five years less discounting to today's dollars can account for only a small part of the reason why the liability increased by $1.7 billion after spending $1.5 billion. ****ExxonMobil and Woodside's Bream A platform is scheduled for removal in 2027.**** Image: ExxonMobil Carbon Tracker said UK and Canadian regulators appeared to be more active in policing financial reporting than ASIC. "Market regulator practice at a jurisdictional level may be a key driver in the quality of financial statement disclosures," Carbon Tracker concluded. "Although ASIC has previously emphasised the importance of appropriate recognition and estimation of AROs, we did not observe the regulator compelling (or indeed companies providing) more useful financial statement disclosures." * * * ## Australia's offshore clean-up to-do list Much decommissioning in Australia is occurring only after the federal regulator, NOPSEMA, ordered work to be done. Some of these projects are still required to publish annual progress reports. **Bass Strait - Victoria - ExxonMobil** NOPSEMA direction in 2021 2025 annual report **Stybarrow - WA - Woodside** NOPSEMA direction 2025 superseded the original 2021 direction following "preventable safety incidents resulting in injury as well as delays." 2023 annual report **Griffin - WA - Woodside** NOPSEMA direction 2025 superseded the original 2021 direction following "several preventable health, safety, and environmental incidents." 2024 annual report **Minerva - Victoria - Woodside** NOPSEMA direction 2025 superseded the original 2021 direction after plastic was lost to the sea. 2023 annual report Woodside slammed for preventable offshore incidentsRegulator NOPSEMA has directed Woodside to properly plan its work after a series of preventable safety incidents off the WA and Victorian coasts.Boiling ColdPeter Milne **Nganhurra Riser Turret Mooring - WA - Woodside** NOPSEMA direction 2023 2025 annual report **Basker, Manta, Gummy - Victoria - Amplitude Energy** NOPSEMA direction 2021 2024 annual report

_By Adrian Black_ Australia's biggest oil and gas producer has posted record production and cut production costs, but weak commodity prices have weighed on profits. Softer oil and gas prices have dragged on Woodside's full-year bottom-line net profit, which slumped by almost a quarter to $US2.7 billion ($A3.8 billion) despite record production and lower unit costs. Underlying net profit after tax came in at $US2.6 billion ($A3.7 billion), an eight per cent slip from 2024. Oil prices tumbled 20 per cent in 2025, their worst year since 2020, due to a global supply glut that the International Energy Agency expects will persist in 2026. Record production of 198.8 million barrels of oil equivalent and a four per cent reduction in unit costs helped offset lower realised prices over the period, acting chief executive Liz Westcott said on Tuesday. "In a testament to the strength of our underlying business, during a period of increased capital expenditure and softer prices, we generated free cash flow of $US1.9 million ($2.7 million)," she told analysts in an earnings briefing. Woodside spills 16,000 litres of oil into Indian OceanThe company that thinks a damaging oil spill from its planned drilling near Scott Reef is “only a mere theoretical possibility” weeks ago accidentally released a cocktail of hydrocarbons, chemicals and water into the Indian Ocean.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Ms Westcott was optimistic about oil's attractiveness in 2026. "Oil is a core product for Woodside underpinned by a robust demand outlook," she said. "The difficulty of decarbonising hard to abate sectors such as heavy transport and petrochemicals means that oil demand is forecast to remain resilient as the world's energy mix evolves." Ms Westcott is acting for outgoing boss Meg O'Neill, who will become BP's first female leader on April 1. Woodside has not announced a permanent replacement for Ms O'Neill, but Ms Westcott confirmed the board was assessing several internal and external candidates and expected to make an announcement in the first quarter. "I know everyone's very interested in the outcome, but I want to reinforce that what I'm interested in and what I know is very important ... is that we continue to execute against our strategy and deliver shareholder value through our disciplined decision making and our operational excellence," she said. Woodside’s Perth hydrogen plan: smaller, later, dirtierAfter a big splash four years ago and little publicity since, Woodside has teamed up with Japanese partners to promote a smaller, later, and dirtier hydrogen plant.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Investors responded warmly to the results, as production topped the upper end of guidance, supporting a 1.4 per cent lift in Woodside shares to $27.48 in early trade. Woodside declared a final dividend of 59 cents per share, compared with 53 cents the year before. "The strength of our base business has delivered returns for shareholders, with Woodside having returned approximately $11 billion in dividends since merger completion in 2022," Ms Westcott said. In project news, the Beaumont New Ammonia project off the US Gulf Coast achieved first production in December 2025, Trion off Mexico remains on target for first oil in 2028, and Scarborough's first LNG cargo should be loaded off the WA coast in 2026.

ANALYSIS Since Texan oilman Rhett Bennett bought an exploration permit in Western Australia's Kimberley region in 2019, there has been a lot of cash burned and little progress. In January, Bennett's Black Mountain Energy finally won the backing of Western Australia's Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) to drill up to 20 exploration and appraisal wells using hydraulic fracturing (fracking). After seven years and a bill of more than $40 million, the EPA's recommendation was a rare step forward for Bennett's Project Valhalla, but there is a long way to go before a well is drilled. Even if exploration proves the Canning Basin to be as good underground as US basins that have powered a fracking boom, the above-ground risks for investors are enormous compared to Texas. 🔥 ****Project Valhalla Key Facts**** 📍 Location: EP371 permit, Canning Basin, Kimberley, WA. 🏢 Company: unlisted Black Mountain Energy ⛽ Initial scale: 20 exploration/appraisal wells, up to 4000m deep 💧 Water: 100 million litres per well (mixed with chemicals) 🚰 Risk: Mount Hardman Creek flows into Fitzroy River 🦎 At-risk species: Northern Blue-tongued Skink, Greater Bilby ✅ WA: EPA recommendation Jan 2026, appeals and Minister's decison to follow ❓Federal: Assessment ongoing (EPBC Act) ## Long road to spud a well for Project Valhalla Black Mountain sought WA environmental approval in 2021 but did not initiate the Federal process until 2024. It is proving more difficult to satisfy the experts in Canberra. After reviewing the studies submitted to the WA EPA, the Federal regulator concluded that Black Mountain had not justified its claim that the drilling would not impact local water resources. There was also a real risk that vulnerable species protected under federal law could be affected. In December, the Independent Expert Scientific Committee advising the Federal Government published its findings, which damned Black Mountain's reassurances as "largely unsupported" by a "limited and disjointed" assessment. Further analysis of the groundwater risks recommended by the committee will only increase Black Mountain's costs and delay a Federal decision. Within the state's jurisdiction, the EPA's green light is only a recommendation. The Appeals Convenor now has to consider an unprecedented 8000 appeals against the EPA's call, and then submit a report to Environment Minister, Matthew Swinbourn, who makes the final decision. Weighing on Swinbourn's mind will be the Labor Party's November conference, which voted to ban fracking across WA. The vote is not binding on the Government, which is facing growing disenchantment among Party members over its environmental record. With two other contentious environmental decisions due this year - Alcoa's mining and Woodside's Browse gas project - taking a stance against powerless Black Mountain would be an easy way to placate the lay party. Should Swinbourn support Black Mountain's initial 20 wells, the company will have to repeat the lengthy EPA process to drill any further, with no guarantee that future EPA boards and environment ministers would reach the same conclusion. ## Unknown code and Traditional Owner hurdles Even with environmental approval from both levels of Government, there remain two substantial hurdles before a drill rig can be put to use, but how high they are is not yet known. The WA Government is five years late implementing the safeguards it promised would be in place before it would allow fracking to occur. Two safeguards are particularly important to the viability of Project Valhalla. A promised, enforceable Code of Practice defining minimum standards for fracking activities, based on scientific research, has not been published. Without this information, no company can produce a reasonable estimate of the cost in WA to explore and develop so-called tight gas that requires hydraulic fracturing. Labor has also promised the Traditional Owners a veto over fracking, but has yet to publish any details on how this would work. Black Mountain is understood to have the support of the two Traditional Owner groups in the southern part of Exploration Permit 371, where it wants to drill the initial exploration and appraisal wells: the Noonkanbah and Warlangurru people. However, fracking is not welcome in the northern part of EP 371, raising doubts about whether this area could be developed if initial drilling results are positive. The Walalakoo Aboriginal Corporation, representing the Nyikina Mangala people who have Native Title over 18 per cent of EP 371, made its opposition clear in a January Facebook post: "We have always been clear and consistent in opposing fracking and have long held contractual rights of veto over fracking in any agreements made in respect of oil and gas extraction." The Bunuba people, whose Native Title determination covers the much-drilled northern 40 per cent of EP37,1, have a similar stance. Traditional Owner Millie Hills, who was a National Party candidate in the last state election, said in November that her people voted not to support a retention lease that Black Mountain sought. > "We dont agree at all to fracking, we think it is going to ruin the countryside," Hills said. > "Water is more precious than gas." Depending on how the state government structures the Traditional Owner veto, Black Mountain also risks that currently supportive groups may change their minds in the future. Once it has approvals for the initial drilling, Black Mountain wants to bring new investors into the deal. Those investors need to know that approvals are only one factor that makes Kimberley fracking a high-risk, low-reward proposition. Black Mountain, the firm that wants to frack the KimberleyA company with less than $5 million in the bank and a boss who lives in the US will soon get a red or green light from WA’s environment watchdog.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## A long way to a market Project Valhalla is located in a remote and expensive region, even by the standards of Western Australia's sparsely populated north. That, and flooding in the wet season, will make Project Valhalla expensive to develop and operate. The remoteness also makes gas markets difficult to access. The most discussed option is a 1000-kilometre pipeline to Woodside's North West Shelf (NWS) gas export plant in Karratha, which will have increasing spare capacity in the coming years. Woodside has already permanently shuttered one of the five liquefied natural gas (LNG) trains, and restrictions on nitrous oxide emissions imposed by the Federal Government in 2025 may force the closure of the two other older trains. That leaves the cleaner running Trains 4 and 5, which have a total capacity of about 9 million tonnes per year. However, Woodside and other companies with a stake in the North West Shelf planned to develop the offshore Browse gas fields and process 11 million tonnes of gas a year at the NWS plant. They may now need to reduce that output, but there is clearly no room for Project Valhalla gas at the NWS while the Browse project is alive. ASX-listed Equus Energy is pursuing any future spare capacity at the adjacent Pluto LNG plant. ****No link betwen gas production and consumption.**** Source: BME May 2025 presentation The option to export the gas through Darwin in the Northern Territory has similar problems of lengthy approvals to build an extraordinarily expensive pipeline to gas export plants with operators - Santos and INPEX - that have their own plans to keep them full. A new, or greenfield, LNG plant and export facilities would be ruinously expensive. It is a move even major players take with great caution. A pipeline to the East Coast gas market is also unlikely. It would require credible customers to sign long-term purchase agreements to support financing for the pipeline construction and build-out of Project Vahalla to large-scale production. But why would these customers commit to a high-cost and unproven gas province? Federal experts slam Black Mountain fracking assessmentAn independent review found Black Mountain conducted a “limited and disjointed” assessment that came to “largely unsupported” conclusions.Boiling ColdPeter Milne ## Chicken and the Egg Project Valhalla is, in industry parlance, stranded gas: not just physically but commercially. Any option to export the gas requires substantial investment. That can be justified only if Black Mountain demonstrates beyond doubt that the field can reliably produce large volumes of low-cost gas. But how can Black Mountain scale up the operation if it cannot get the gas to market? Interim options such as trucking LNG from a small on-site plant would be prohibitively expensive. The world is not short of gas, and if, as gas spruikers claim, demand will grow for some time, there is ample untapped supply that is more economically viable than the Kimberley. If investors who want to back gas think Project Valhalla is the best place to park their cash, they haven't looked very hard.

_By: Aaron Bunch_ Alcoa has agreed to pay $55 million to restore a forest habitat that's home to protected species after clearing it for bauxite mining without approvals. Alcoa has been given the green light to clear more Australian forest after being fined for stripping land for bauxite mining without approvals. The US aluminium giant has agreed to pay $55 million to restore the environment as part of an enforceable undertaking reached with the federal government on Wednesday. It relates to habitat destruction in the Northern Jarrah Forest, south of Perth, between 2019 and 2025. "It's the largest conservation‑focused commitment of its kind," Federal Environment Minister Murray Watt said as he spruiked the deal. The company did not seek the appropriate legal approvals to clear the land under the Commonwealth Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999. The agreement, which is enforceable in the Federal Court, will deliver permanent ecological offsets to preserve important habitat. Alcoa misleads investors on crucial WA mining approvalsChief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the miner had responded to all 60,000 comments on its WA expansion plans—in fact, it responded to fewer than 10, and some were unacceptable.Boiling ColdPeter Milne It will also expand conservation programs for species, including Western Australia's three black cockatoo species, and strengthen invasive‑species management within the Northern Jarrah Forest. Senator Watt also granted Alcoa a national‑interest exemption to allow the company to continue land clearing for its mining operations for 18 months, while a strategic assessment is completed. This will ensure the continued supply of bauxite for industry in Australia and with trade partners, he said. It also ensures Alcoa can sustain its operations, which employ about 6000 workers. The miner has committed to pay $4.2 million in additional offsets for activities covered by the exemption for management of the environmental impacts. The federal environment department and Alcoa have agreed to develop a strategic assessment agreement to enable future environmental approvals. This will guide sustainable mining at Alcoa's Huntly and Willowdale mining operations, around 100km south of Perth, until 2045. "This agreement will enable government to assess the cumulative environmental impacts of Alcoa's local mining operations and provide strong protections for threatened species and ecological communities, while offering Alcoa long-term operational certainty," Senator Watt said. Alcoa lied about jarrah forest rehabilitation: ad watchdogThe Ad Standards decision has demolished a key plank of the US miner’s expensive campaign to win public support for expanded mining in WA.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Alcoa said modernising the approvals framework will provide a better understanding of the potential impacts of land clearing and mining on significant flora and fauna into the future. The company will continue to limit clearing to 800 hectares per year and increase new rehabilitation rates annually to 1,000 hectares per year by 2027. "We are committed to responsible operations and welcome this important step in transitioning our approvals to a contemporary assessment process that provides increased certainty for our operations and our people into the future," Alcoa president and chief executive William F Oplinger said. The strategic assessment will not impact an ongoing accredited environmental assessment of the future Myara North and Holyoake mine regions of the Huntly mine under WA and federal environment law. The Minerals Council of Australia said the agreement was a pragmatic decision by Alcoa and the federal government. Chief executive Tania Constable called on state and federal governments to "rapidly finalise" workable national environmental standards and assessment agreements to reduce mine approval delays.

Following an oil spill in December, the offshore environment regulator has shut down the Wandoo oil field, 80km off the Pilbara coast, until the Canadian owner, Vermillion, can demonstrate it is safe. Regulator NOPSEMA called out "systemic failures" in Vermilion's management of Wandoo, including inadequate inspection and maintenance, and repeated instances of not complying with Wandoo's approved environment plan. NOPSEMA identified problems with Vermilion's management of Wandoo during inspections in October 2025 and after the December 11, 2025, oil spill. "These issues reflect recurring themes from earlier inspections and show that corrective actions and assurance processes have not fully addressed the underlying causes," the February 6 _NOPSEMA direction_ published on Friday said. ****Vermilion's********website********seeking consultation on its Australian plans**** The NOPSEMA direction said the systemic weaknesses it identified may have contributed to the oil spill. Vermilion has operated the wholly owned Wandoo field since 2005. Wells reach out as far as three kilometres from two platforms: the unmanned Wandoo A and the crewed Wandoo B. Image: Vermilion. NOPSEMA has ordered Vermilion not to export any oil from Wandoo until it can demonstrate that it has implemented measures to make the existing system safe. Vermilion then has to have a completely new export system from the pipeline end manifold (PLEM) to the floating export hose in place by December 2027. In 2022, a floating export hose failed at Santos' Varanus Island facility, allowing 25,000 litres of condensate to escape into the ocean. Santos denied any connection between the spill and the dead dolphins found nearby. Santos pleads guilty over Varanus Island dead dolphin oil spillA massive oil spill and allegations of a cover-up have resulted in just a $10,000 fine for the $22 billion company.Boiling ColdPeter Milne Vermilion has not yet complied with a _NOPSEMA direction issued three years ago_ over concerns that its inadequate maintenance of pipework on the platforms could lead to oil or gas escaping, resulting in a fire or explosion. NOPSEMA and Vermilion have been contacted for comment. MORE TO COME __Boiling Cold__ 's coverage of WA's oil and gas sector is free for all to read, maximising impact and accountability. I need your backing to keep covering this powerful and influential industry. Support independent journalism in WA

👷‍♂️ WHY ALCOA'S WA MINING APPROVALS MATTER · Alcoa needs WA · More than 70% of its bauxite and alumina come from WA · Its share price plunged the last time investors were concerned about approvals. · Alcoa's mining is a threat to Perth's water supply · It has failed to complete the rehabilitation of a single hectare of jarrah forest after sixty years of strip mining. Alcoa chief executive Bill Oplinger incorrectly told investors the miner has completed its work on vital mining approvals, and that progress now depends on the WA Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). > "We received close to 60,000 comments. We've responded to all of those comments," Oplinger told Wall Street analysts in January. > > "The next major milestone in the process is that we should have a recommendation from the EPA at the end of the first half and then have ministerial approvals by the end of the year." The real situation is that Alcoa has responded to less than ten submissions; they were not to a standard acceptable to the EPA, and there was no basis to expect an EPA recommendation by mid-2026. Oplinger's wish to be upbeat about Alcoa extending its six decades of access to WA's jarrah forest, where it mines more than 70 per cent of its bauxite, is understandable. He told investors in 2025 that obtaining its WA mining approvals was the _"number one" lever_ to boost profits for the global aluminium specialist. ****Bill Oplinger has led Alcoa since September 2023.**** Image: Alcoa In mid-2023, his predecessor, Roy Harvey, told a morning quarterly results call there was “no fixed timetable” for resolving approvals in WA. Alcoa's share price then _plunged 6.5 per cent_ in the first 10 minutes of trading and closed the day down 7.4 per cent, wiping $650 million off the value of the company. The Alcoa board axed Harvey and installed Oplinger before the next quarterly call. ## Approval ball still in Alcoa's court Environmental Protection Authority chair Darren Walsh said the responses received from Alcoa in January were only to submissions from "decision-making authorities." These are WA government departments, but not the state-owned utility Water Corporation, that has significant concerns about Alcoa's mining near its dams. Walsh told _Boiling Cold_ that there was no agreed timetable for the environment watchdog to make its recommendation to Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn. > _"The EPA will not commit to an assessment timeframe until Alcoa submits its outstanding responses," Walsh said._ > > "When these have been accepted as adequate by the EPA they will be published," he said. The EPA received _more than 59,000 submissions_ on Alcoa in August 2025. Many were proformas, but more than 10 per cent were not, so the US company has about 6,000 different submissions to review and respond to. An Alcoa spokeswoman said in agreement with the EPA that it had prioritised responding to government regulators and was targeting to submit all responses by the end of March. If Alcoa achieves that target, it still has a long road to gaining approvals. The EPA has to review the responses, most likely resulting in more questions to Alcoa. Once the EPA deems the responses to be acceptable and publishes them, it can complete its assessment, which is likely to be the most complex it has ever undertaken. There will then be a three-week appeal period and a lengthy assessment by the Appeals Convenor before WA's environment minister can make a decision. In addition, there is a parallel Federal environmental approvals process. Labor breaks vow and risks WA’s water supply for AlcoaRoger Cook granting Alcoa greater access to mine near Perth’s dams risks could cost taxpayers billions of dollars and result in water restrictionsBoiling ColdPeter Milne ****Read**** _****Boiling Cold****_****'s exclusive investigation of Roger Cook's work for Alcoa**** Alcoa was asked on what basis it expected an EPA recommendation by mid-year. Its spokesperson said it was working collaboratively with stakeholders to achieve ministerial decisions by the end of 2026 and would continue to be responsive to requests for information from the EPA. _Boiling Cold_ also asked if the company would correct its misinformation to the market. Alcoa pointed to its _press release_ accompanying its quarterly results, which was correct about its actual progress: “In January 2026… the Company submitted to the WA Environmental Protection Authority responses to comments received from government entities." Mines Department blasts holes in Alcoa’s jarrah forest care claimsEndangered cockatoos - 105,000 exploration holes a year - insecure offsets: WA’s mining regulator has questions for the US miner.Boiling ColdPeter Milne The departments of Water and Environmental Regulation, Mines, Biodiversity and Conservation, and Health all made submissions to the EPA, according to _Boiling Cold’s_ freedom of information requests. The Mines Department was _scathing about Alcoa's claims_ to be caring for the northern jarrah forest. Other departments denied FOI access as the documents were part of an ongoing deliberative process. __Boiling Cold__ 's unrivalled reporting on Alcoa is free for all to read, maximising impact and accountability. I need your backing to keep covering stories that would otherwise go unreported. Support independent journalism in WA ## 🗞️ Other independent news today: If fracking begins in the Kimberley, it could damage a sacred riverFracking exploration wells are likely to proceed in the Kimberley. Given how much more we know about the risks of fracking, this seems dangerous.The ConversationAnne PoelinaJapan wins, Australian consumers lose. Intense lobbying revealed - Michael WestWhile Australian consumers suffer from record-high energy prices, Japanese LNG companies enjoy the spoils of on-selling Australian LNG.Michael WestKim WingereiState owned utility’s newly opened grid battery has been “re-rated” to be the biggest in AustraliaState owned Synergy has formally opened its third big battery, which turns out to the biggest operating battery in Australia after its storage was “re-rated.”Renew EconomyGiles Parkinson