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A report commissioned by oil-and-gas giant Woodside has exaggerated the economic benefits of its Browse to North West Shelf gas project including overinflating the number of jobs it will create, according to a not-for-profit research group.
Climate Integrity published its own analysis of the Deloitte report on Thursday, finding it was “rosy” at best and claiming it was commissioned to paint the project in a positive light as the government’s decision on environmental approvals looms.
Climate Integrity’s analysis claimed the commissioned report inflated the economic benefits of the project, including “cherry-picking” job figures while ignoring job destruction in farming and manufacturing.
Woodside previously stated the Browse project would create nearly 4800 jobs.
The new analysis claims this figure referred only to a single peak year and that the average over the project’s 47-year life was 1388 net jobs, less than a third of the headline figure.
The not-for-profit’s analysis also found that Deloitte’s modelling showed Browse would “cannibalise” an average of 1760 jobs in manufacturing and 458 in agriculture, as workers left those industries to work on the gas project.
Climate Integrity head of corporate accountability Michael Mazengarb said, “when you look at the full picture and the fine print, the employment case for this project largely falls apart”.
“This is an inconvenient message for Woodside – fossil fuel projects cannibalising workers from farming and manufacturing,” he said.
“Much of the job creation being achieved by the Browse projects involves workers abandoning jobs in these critical industries.
“It’s no wonder these figures didn’t feature in the company’s media statement or in Deloitte’s headline findings.”
Climate Integrity’s analysis also claimed the Deloitte report assumed gas prices would remain stable for the next four decades, despite the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and the International Energy Agency both warning demand for gas must decline by more than 75 per cent by 2050 to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees, and that Asian-region gas prices would decline by more than half by 2035.
Mazengarb said the Deloitte report treated the climate, biodiversity and environmental harms of Browse as outside the scope of analysis, but that those costs should have been included as they outweighed any economic benefits.
“This is a carefully timed PR tactic from Woodside as it awaits government approval on Browse, which if it is approved, will be one of the most polluting gas projects in the world,” he said.
“By excluding the costs of Browse’s climate harms from its economic assessment, this report only tells half the story.
“If Deloitte had put an economic price on the damage that Browse’s emissions would cause, these costs could be almost three-times greater than the economic benefits the report is claiming.
“It’s like a used car salesman touting a car’s low price, leather seats and sound system, but neglecting to mention the car needs a new gearbox.”
A Woodside spokesperson said the company had commissioned Deloitte to undertake an independent, third-party economic impact assessment of the Browse to North West Shelf Project.
“This modelling shows the project represents a significant opportunity to strengthen Australia’s energy security, support the energy transition and deliver long‑term economic benefits for Western Australia and the nation,” the spokesperson said.
“The guide to interpreting the report clearly states it is not a forecast, but rather a structured comparison of plausible scenarios to understand system‑level impacts under consistent assumptions.
“Deloitte’s modelling shows energy security in Western Australia is actively being managed through policy settings and system planning with Browse complementing, rather than replacing, that effort.”
Deloitte has been contacted for comment.
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