Woodside said operations remained paused on Sunday at a floating production unit, part of its $12.5 billion Scarborough natural gas project off the coast of Western Australia, due to a Greenpeace protest at the platform.
Two activists from the group slept overnight on the semi-submersible unit, located around 375 kilometres (233 miles) off the state's northwest coast, in the protest that started on Saturday, Greenpeace said.
"Temporary hanging tents" were set up on the unit and the activists would, "occupy the platform for as long as possible," Greenpeace said.
The attention-seeking group is "concerned" about the potential impact of Woodside's proposed Browse project on Scott Reef, a remote coral system and foraging area for the endangered pygmy blue whale. Woodside has said it expects no physical contact with the reef above the 75-metre (246-foot) water depth.
A Woodside spokesperson said, "operations at the Scarborough FPU remain safely paused," on Sunday, a day after temporarily halting pre-commissioning activities as a result of the "unauthorised access".
Four activists on Saturday scaled the 70,000 tonnes unit, part of the 98 per cent completed Scarborough project, and displayed banners with the message "Stop Woodside’s Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef", according to Greenpeace.
Australian Border Force on Sunday said it had no update on the incident. It previously said it was working with federal and state agencies on a response.
(Reporting by Sam McKeith in Sydney; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Rod Nickel)
