Two Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists who scaled Woodside's Scarborough floating production unit on Saturday spent roughly two nights on the 70,000-tonne platform before specialist officers removed them on Sunday afternoon. The protest halted pre-commissioning activity on a project Woodside says is 98 per cent complete and due to ship its first liquefied natural gas before the end of 2026.
Occupation at the Scarborough field
Greenpeace said the pair used climbing gear to reach the floating production unit about 5:45 a.m. AWST on Saturday, roughly 375 kilometres off Karratha in Western Australia, and unfurled banners reading "Stop Woodside's Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef." The activists launched from the group's flagship Rainbow Warrior, which had recently sailed near Scott Reef to highlight marine life the campaigners say would be threatened by Woodside's Browse development.
Woodside confirmed unauthorised access and said it paused pre-commissioning while authorities responded. In a statement quoted by Australian media, the company called the action dangerous and reckless, saying it endangered activists, staff, contractors and responders as well as the facility and surrounding environment. Greenpeace maintained the protest was peaceful and within Australia's long tradition of offshore environmental demonstrations.
Border Force removal and custody
Australian Border Force led the operation to extract the climbers. Greenpeace said a police helicopter landed on the platform around 11:30 a.m. AWST on Sunday; the activists detached from their rigs and were taken into custody about 1 p.m. As of Sunday afternoon the group said no charges had been laid. Western Australia Police referred questions to Border Force, which had not published a detailed statement by the time activists left the rig.
Greenpeace chief executive David Ritter praised the volunteers for drawing attention to Browse drilling plans, which the organisation says could industrialise Scott Reef—home to nesting green turtles and pygmy blue whales. Captain Hettie Geenen, aboard the Rainbow Warrior, said watching the climb was "powerful" and called on the federal government to reject Browse.
Gas politics on the eve of first LNG
Scarborough's eight initial wells are part of a wider push to export more gas even as climate campaigners argue new fields lock in decades of emissions. Woodside counters that Scarborough gas is among the lower-carbon sources available to Asian buyers and that Browse remains subject to separate environmental approvals.
For regulators, Sunday's episode is a security as well as a climate story: a major production unit was boarded at sea just weeks before start-up. For Woodside investors, any extended shutdown during commissioning could ripple through a timetable that executives have marketed as nearly finished.