Two Greenpeace Activists Charged After Occupying Woodside's $12.5 Billion Scarborough Gas Platform

Four Greenpeace activists climbed onto a 70,000-tonne gas platform 375 kilometres off the Western Australian coast on Saturday, Oct. 17. Two of them now face criminal charges that carry a maximum of 10 years in prison.

The Australian Border Force, Western Australia Police and the offshore regulator NOPSEMA said in a joint statement on Monday, Oct. 19, that two men, aged 48 and 52, were charged with interfering with operations of offshore petroleum installations. Both were due before Karratha Magistrates Court on Monday. The charges are allegations. No conviction exists.

What happened on the platform

The activists arrived on Greenpeace's Rainbow Warrior vessel on Saturday morning and scaled Woodside Energy's Scarborough floating production unit. They unfurled a 12-metre by 14-metre banner reading "Stop Woodside's Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef."

Two spent the night in hanging tents attached to the structure. The other two went back to the vessel.

Police arrived by helicopter on Sunday and removed the pair who remained. Greenpeace said they were taken into custody Sunday afternoon.

Work halted, restart date unknown

Woodside paused pre-commissioning activities on Saturday after what it called unauthorised access. A Woodside spokesperson said on Sunday that operations at the unit remained safely paused.

The company warned the disruption could result in significant additional costs. It called the protest dangerous, reckless and illegal, described the response it triggered as entirely avoidable, and said it backed a strong response from authorities to enforce the law fully.

Woodside has given no timeframe for restarting work.

The timing matters. The $12.5 billion Scarborough project was 98% complete as of the end of June. The company is targeting its first LNG cargo in the fourth quarter of 2026. Woodside says the project is positioned to supply 8 million tonnes of LNG a year plus up to 6 million cubic metres a day to the domestic gas market.

Gas is already flowing from the offshore wells into the floating unit, according to Seeking Alpha's account of the project's status. Pre-commissioning is the stage between that point and shipping a cargo.

The fight Greenpeace says it is really about

The protest was aimed at Scarborough, but Greenpeace says its target is a different project. The group wants the Australian government to reject Woodside's proposed Browse development near Scott Reef, a remote coral system that is also a foraging area for the endangered pygmy blue whale.

Greenpeace says Browse could involve drilling up to 57 wells around what it calls Australia's largest oceanic reef. It says that threatens pygmy blue whales, green sea turtles and other marine life.

Woodside's position is that it expects no physical contact with Scott Reef above the 75-metre water depth.

Greenpeace maintains the protest itself was peaceful. On Monday it kept up the pressure, delivering a 47-metre-long petition with nearly half a million signatures to Woodside's headquarters in Perth.

Two separate questions

The environmental argument over Browse is a policy fight. Voters, regulators and ministers can settle it through approvals, hearings and elections. Scarborough is a different matter: a working offshore facility, hundreds of kilometres from shore, where uninvited people were hanging from the structure while pre-commissioning work was under way.

Greenpeace calls its action peaceful. Woodside calls it dangerous. Prosecutors will have to prove their case in court under the offshore petroleum law, and a 10-year maximum is a serious penalty on its face. Whether a magistrate or later a jury sees it as a protest that went too far or a clear safety breach is for the court to decide.

The commercial stakes are plain. A pause on a nearly finished project can slide a commissioning window into a new quarter. That can then affect the timing of the first cargo and the delivery schedule built around it.

Woodside has not said whether the fourth-quarter first-LNG target still holds. The next markers are the outcome of the Karratha court appearance and the date Woodside gives for resuming pre-commissioning at Scarborough.