Two in custody after Greenpeace protest disrupts Woodside offshore gas platform off Western Australia

Two people are in police custody after activists occupied a Woodside offshore gas platform about 200 kilometres off the coast of Western Australia. The overnight protest disrupted operations at the rig, which is linked to the company's Scarborough natural gas project. The action was carried out by Greenpeace activists, who said they were targeting Woodside's planned gas project at Scott Reef.

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According to the supporting material, four protesters travelled to the platform early on Saturday morning. Greenpeace said two of them set up temporary hanging tents and remained on the structure for as long as possible. The group later said special police forces landed a helicopter on the platform at about 11:30am AWST, after which the activists removed themselves from their equipment and were taken into police custody around 1pm.

An Australian Border Force spokesperson said the agency was working with federal and state authorities to respond to the situation after the unauthorized access. Woodside confirmed that pre-commissioning activities at Scarborough had been paused as part of routine procedures following the incident. The company said the activists had deliberately and unlawfully accessed the floating production unit and had endangered their own safety as well as that of staff.

The protest matters because Scarborough is a major energy project for Woodside, with the company describing it as a $12.5 billion development. The incident also adds to the long-running dispute over gas development near Scott Reef, which Greenpeace and other environmental groups have opposed. Scott Reef is described in the supplied material as Australia's largest standalone oceanic reef and a refuge for thousands of aquatic creatures and shorebirds.

The broader context is that Woodside's plans in the area have faced sustained criticism from environmental campaigners concerned about offshore gas expansion. The supporting material also notes that Woodside's Browse gas project is intended to tap Australia's largest undeveloped offshore gas reserve and has been estimated by a Deloitte analysis to cost about $48.7 billion. That makes the latest protest part of a wider debate over energy development, environmental protection and the use of federal and state resources to respond to direct action at sea.

What remains unclear from the available information is how long the operational pause will last and whether further arrests or charges will follow. It is also not yet clear what immediate impact the disruption will have on the wider Scarborough project timeline. The key developments to watch are the police response, any legal action against the protesters and whether Woodside resumes pre-commissioning work after the incident.

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