Oil and gas giant feels the heat from climate activists
Climate activists repeatedly disrupted shareholders’ meetings of Australia’s largest oil and gas company, with one of them breaking through barricades to jump on stage.
Four Disrupt Burrup Hub protesters shouted at the Woodside Energy board at its annual general meeting at Crown Towers in Perth on Thursday before being escorted from the ballroom.
“We have 85 seconds left on the doomsday clock, we’re running out of time,” one activist, identified by the protest group as a 20-year-old college student, shouted as investors jeered.
Despite a significant 34.5 percent vote against new CEO Liz Westcott’s bonus structure, shareholders approved all business matters at the meeting.
Ms Westcott will receive a fixed salary of $2.3 million in 2025/26 and could receive up to a further $14.8 million if short- and long-term performance hurdles are overcome.
Woodside chairman Richard Goyder said the reaction was “a bit frustrating” as the long-term incentive structure was an integral part of Woodside’s compensation plan, which it redesigned following feedback from shareholders.
Other protesters were escorted from the room by security while singing and holding “Hands off Scott Reef” signs they managed to get inside.
Ms Westcott welcomed the protests for what they were, saying the conflict in the Middle East had caused significant disruption and “we could still have disruption today”.
Greens senator Steph Hodgins-May attended the meeting to question Woodside executives over their claims that a 25 per cent export tax would kill the company’s $37 billion Gozat gas project off the coast of Western Australia.
“If giving Australians a fair return for their gas makes your project unsustainable, doesn’t that show that the model is broken and relies on Australians effectively giving away their resources for free,” he said.
Ms Westcott said the tax system provided a fair return to Australians, with Woodside paying $2 billion in tax in 2025 for an effective tax rate of 44 per cent.
“We’re giving back to Australians,” he said.
“Our new projects bring in large amounts of taxes.”
Outside the meeting, several dozen activists held signs with slogans such as “Rage against the Woodside machine” and “More gas will cook our planet.”
Protester Laraine Brindle said she was concerned about the environmental destruction she believed was occurring as a result of industrial projects such as Woodside’s gas projects.
“We have opportunities in Australia to use renewable energies rather than destroying the environment,” he said.
“I have lived in a beautiful country for decades and I want it to be preserved for my grandchildren, their children and grandchildren.”
Ms. Westcott argued during the meeting that Woodside’s liquefied natural gas products are actually helping global decarbonization by replacing coal as a fuel source in Asian markets.
“When we look at the use of coal in the energy system and compare it to the use of natural gas, we can reduce emissions by almost half by replacing coal with gas,” he said.
Matt Roberts, chief executive of the Conservation Council of WA, disputed this claim, telling the General Assembly that gas was actually displacing renewable energy sources.
“We have these lines that it helps decarbonization, but the evidence suggests otherwise,” he said.
Woodside shares closed nearly 2.5 percent higher at $31.59 on the Australian stock exchange.
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