For more than 50 years, it has sat as a prize just beyond the reach of major Australian and international oil and gas players.
asserted
it → sit → players
Together, they hold almost 14 trillion cubic feet of gas, or enough to meet Victoria's entire demand for seven decades.
asserted
they → hold → decades
They are also, according to the WA government and oil and gas giant Woodside, the only viable way to head off a looming supply crunch.
"If you're not going to do Browse, but you're going to meet that shortfall, where is that shortfall going to come from?" said WA Premier Roger Cook earlier this year.
uncertain
Cook → accord → where
Arguments in favour of Browse have been heating up once again in the west.
More than a decade after Woodside and its partners walked away from plans to bring the gas onshore, they are mounting what some say is a last-ditch bid to get the project over the line.
asserted
some → heat → line
Whereas once their plans focused on building a huge plant in the Kimberley to process the gas into a liquid form, or LNG, they are now looking much further afield.
asserted
they → focus → form
The project partners want to send it to the North West Shelf, an aging LNG facility in the Pilbara, via a colossal 900-kilometre subsea pipeline.
asserted
partners → want → pipeline
Most of the gas would be shipped off as exports.
asserted
Most → ship → exports
But Woodside, its partners and the state are stressing Browse would also be a critical source of domestic gas for a WA economy that runs heavily on the fuel.
asserted
that → stress → fuel
Their position is based on a report from the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) that last year warned WA faced a shortfall of domestic gas from 2030.
asserted
WA → base → 2030
"Without Browse … there will be no new significant domestic gas to meet the AEMO-forecast shortfall from 2030," a Woodside spokesman told the ABC.
asserted
spokesman → meet → ABC
New research, however, seeks to cast doubt on those claims.
uncertain
research → seek → claims
The Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR), an activist shareholder group that lobbies against fossil fuel developments, argues in a new report that WA does not face a gas supply shortage.
asserted
WA → lobby → shortage
The state, it says, is facing an unwillingness by gas producers to supply anything more than the bare minimum to local users.
asserted
it → say → users
"We've had a look at the West Australian gas balance," said Alex Hillman, a gas analyst at the ACCR.
asserted
Hillman → have → ACCR
"We found that there's enough gas to supply domestic needs as long as we don't export too much of it."
Under a policy introduced 20 years ago, gas projects in WA are supposed to set aside 15 per cent of their reserves for the domestic market.
asserted
projects → find → market
Hillman, a former carbon analyst at Woodside, says the warnings about a supply deficit are based on a strict interpretation of the market under that policy.
But he says such forecasts ignore the fact that gas exporters could choose to sell more of their supplies to domestic consumers.
uncertain
exporters → say → consumers
That they don't, he says, is a commercial preference that puts a lie to the notion that Browse is essential to keeping gas flowing in WA.
asserted
Browse → do → WA
"A lot of the public discourse around Browse and why it could be approved is around a perceived need for Western Australia," he says.
uncertain
he → approve → Australia
"If that's the key reason this project is going to be built, our analysis shows that … it's not needed."
asserted
it → go → ?
According to Hillman, a more immediate problem confronting WA is a lack of processing capacity that could turn raw, field gas into something fit for use in the local market.
uncertain
that → accord → market
Beyond that constraint, he says existing projects in the state, including the Gorgon, Wheatstone, and soon, Scarborough, had more than enough gas to meet local needs.
asserted
projects → say → needs
"The 15 per cent reservation policy … it's not a maximum and they actually could choose to provide more gas from their existing projects if they wanted to," Hillman says.
uncertain
Hillman → choose → projects
'Not reasonable or practical'
It's an argument that has been given short shrift by Steve Lewis, the director of BrightSource Consulting.
asserted
that → give → Consulting
Lewis, a former Woodside marketing agent who has worked in every part of Australia's gas industry, says the ACCR's conclusions ignore practical and commercial realities.
asserted
conclusions → work → realities
He says LNG ventures are so large and complex that companies only take the risk of developing them if they can sell to more lucrative export markets.
asserted
they → say → markets
It was just such an arrangement that founded Australia's LNG industry at the North West Shelf 40 years ago, he notes, and it is no different today.
asserted
it → found → Shelf
By recent estimates, the cost of developing the Browse project is likely to add up to $50 billion.
asserted
cost → develop → billion
"It appears to me the report is saying the government should renegotiate its existing arrangements instead of allowing the market to operate the way that it normally would," Lewis said.
asserted
Lewis → appear → arrangements
"On that basis I wouldn't agree with the analysis that it's practical or reasonable.
asserted
it → agree → analysis
"The [domestic] market is not big enough."
For Lewis, accepting that WA could bank only on the supplies agreed with LNG projects under the state's gas reservation policy means a shortfall is indeed looming.
uncertain
shortfall → accept → policy
He acknowledges demand for gas, in WA as in other states, is declining, noting many of his clients in the mining industry are turning towards renewable energy.
asserted
many → acknowledge → energy
But he says the rate of reduction is far slower than the predicted fall in supplies.
asserted
rate → say → supplies
"You are starting to see a decline in overall gas demand in WA as part of that commitment to greener energy," he said.
"
asserted
he → start → energy
Crunch coming:
asserted
Crunch → come → ?
Woodside
Woodside would not comment on ACCR's research.
asserted
Woodside → comment → research
But a spokesman for the company said that, without Browse, the North West Shelf would be wound down and retired.
asserted
Shelf → say → Browse
LoadingAs a consequence, he said, the Karratha gas plant, by far WA's biggest domestic gas plant, would also leave the system.
asserted
plant → say → system
"This risks keeping coal in the system for longer while increasing energy costs for households and businesses," the spokesman said in a statement.
"
asserted
spokesman → risk → statement
In Woodside's view, Browse is the most credible large backfill opportunity to fill long-term unused capacity at Karratha Gas Plant because of the quantity and compatibility of the natural gas resource."
asserted
Browse → fill → resource
A spokesman for Mr Cook said the government had "not been given a copy" of the ACCR's report, but suggested its conclusions were "inconsistent" with the state's advice.
uncertain
conclusions → say → advice
…and 9 more, not listed.
The Aporia