North West Shelf Project

Summary

The North West Shelf Project (NWS), also known as the North West Shelf Venture, is an Australian resource development project, extracting natural gas from under the ocean from the North West Shelf off the coast of Western Australia. Running since the 1980s, it is Australia's largest such project. It involves the extraction of petroleum at offshore production platforms, onshore processing at the Karratha Gas Plant, and production of natural gas for industrial, commercial, and domestic use within the state, as well as the export of liquefied natural gas. The Karratha Gas Plant, which is located on the Murujuga Cultural Landscape, is operated by Woodside Energy. At least 5,000 sacred rock art sites were destroyed for the construction of the North West Shelf. The project has faced opposition from Ngarda-ngarli, Traditional Owners, of Murujuga since inception. The plant supplies up to 15 per cent of Western Australia's gas needs, with the rest exported overseas; none flows to the eastern states.