Four Greenpeace Australia Pacific activists climbed Woodside's Scarborough floating production unit off Western Australia on Saturday, 17 October. Two stayed overnight in hanging tents, with a banner reading "Stop Woodside's Dirty Gas. Save Scott Reef." Woodside said pre-commissioning work was paused safely after "unauthorised access."

The unit sits more than 200 kilometres off Exmouth, part of the $12.5 billion Scarborough gas project, which Woodside has described as 98% complete. Mediafax, citing Reuters, said operations had not resumed by Sunday evening. The company called the halt a routine step after the climb, not a shutdown of the field.

The protest uses Scarborough as a stage. Greenpeace wants the Australian government to stop Browse, another Woodside plan, near Scott Reef, about 390 kilometres offshore. The group says Woodside wants up to 57 oil and gas wells around the reef, a feeding ground for pygmy blue whales and a nesting site for green turtles. Almost 500,000 people have signed a protection petition. Signatures are not a state decision.

Woodside says Browse would not make physical contact with the reef in water shallower than 75 metres and that environmental talks have run since 2018. ABC reported on Monday that Browse is valued at $48.7 billion and is Australia's largest undeveloped gas resource. It remains a proposal, not drilling on the reef.

On Sunday special police landed a helicopter on the unit around 11:30am AWST. Greenpeace said the two activists unclipped themselves and were taken into custody around 1pm. They had come from the Rainbow Warrior. On Sunday evening the group said no charges had been laid.

On Monday the Australian Border Force, WA Police and the offshore regulator NOPSEMA said, in a joint statement carried by ABC, that a 48-year-old man and a 52-year-old man had been charged with interfering with offshore petroleum installations or operations, an offence with a maximum of 10 years in prison. They are charged, not convicted. They are due at Karratha Magistrates Court. Authorities said the investigation continues.

The occupation paused a nearly finished platform. It does not cancel Scarborough and does not reject Browse. Until a government or court decision, it remains a protest on a private installation, with two open criminal files and a reef that is not a worksite yet.

Image: W. Bulach, oil and gas platform in Norway, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons; an archive installation, not Scarborough in October 2026.

Sources consulted: Greenpeace blocks an Australia gas project. Activists occupied a platform - Mediafax; Greenpeace protestors charged after Woodside Scarborough offshore gas rig stunt - ABC News.