Six leading nature and ocean conservation organisations from across Australia have today released a scathing Statement calling out the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) over its failure to ensure offshore oil and gas companies clean up disused oil and gas infrastructure from the ocean.
The Statement and accompanying case study report from The Wilderness Society, the Australian Marine Conservation Society, Greenpeace Australia Pacific, Friends of the Earth Melbourne, the Environment Centre Northern Territory and the Conservation Council Western Australia, titled “The failing regulation of the offshore oil and gas industry clean up in Australia: Statement of Concern”, was launched in Canberra today alongside the Maritime Union of Australia.
The Statement presents five case studies from offshore waters adjacent to Victoria, Western Australia and the Northern Territory that highlight the systematic nature of ocean clean up avoidance by fossil fuel companies including ExxonMobil, Woodside and Santos.
The Statement highlights how NOPSEMA’s failure to hold companies to account on ocean clean up is threatening Australia’s unique and spectacular ocean environments, and is leading to degraded and dangerous offshore platforms that are unsafe for workers.
Disused offshore oil and gas structures can rupture, leak and decay, causing chemicals including oil, gas condensate, heavy metals and radioactive material to spread into the ocean. The longer the clean up is delayed, the worse the risks will become.
Despite more than 60 years of offshore oil and gas operations in Australian waters, including an array of platforms, pipelines and wells now out of use, the absence of an effective regulator means oil and gas clean up in Australia is overdue and only falling further behind.
The Statement warns that without tough regulatory action from NOPSEMA, taxpayers are at risk of being left to foot the bill for cleaning up ageing and polluting oil and gas infrastructure, currently estimated at more than 60 billion Australian dollars.
The Statement makes eight recommendations to address oil and gas industry clean up failure in Australia, including stricter enforcement of existing clean up laws by NOPSEMA, the introduction of clean up bonds for oil and gas companies, and a levy on fossil fuel companies to pay for shared clean up infrastructure.
The statement identifies that in addition to protecting the environment, workers and taxpayers, timely and thorough clean up will create employment opportunities for offshore oil and gas workers as Australia transitions away from fossil fuels.
Quotes attributable to Wilderness Society Fossil Fuel Industry Campaigner Fern Cadman:
“The failure of NOPSEMA to ensure offshore oil and gas companies clean up disused and decaying structures is threatening Australia’s spectacular marine environment. Rusty and decaying wells, pipelines and platforms can rupture, leak and decay, causing chemicals including oil, gas condensate, heavy metals and radioactive material to spread into the ocean. The longer the clean up is delayed, the worse the risks will become.
“Australia’s oil and gas regulator has been too soft when it comes to making sure offshore oil and gas companies clean up the ocean, risking a future where these companies go broke and taxpayers are left to foot the bill.
“As everyday Australians, we would be fined and eventually prosecuted if we dumped our rubbish in the ocean. Australia’s oil and gas regulator NOPSEMA is failing to apply the same standard for oil and gas companies, and the rubbish they are leaving in the ocean on a grand scale.”
Quotes attributable to Australian Marine Conservation Society Oil and Gas Campaign Manager Louise Morris:
“Earlier this year AMCS revealed leaks of ageing oil and gas rigs owned by Esso/ExxonMobil off the coast of Victoria, one of which was only 15 days into the decommissioning process. These leaks were the subject of Senate Estimates questions regarding the environmental impacts of these spills. We now know that Esso are proposing to reuse some of these old rigs for carbon dumping via carbon capture and storage (CCS), avoiding their decommissioning requirements in the oldest network of rigs and pipes in Australia.
“There is an urgent need to amend the OPGGS Act to prohibit the use of old oil and gas infrastructure being reused for CCS as proposed in the Bass Strait. CCS is a proven failure that poses an unacceptable threat to our oceans, marine life and climate.”
Quotes attributed to Freja Leonard, No More Gas campaign coordinator for Friends of the Earth:
“Oil and gas companies in Australia have been too used to having it all their way. They pay negligible tax or royalties and walk offshore with the lion’s share of profits. They should at least be required to clean up their mess.
“Rather than leaving eight toxic, corroding platforms made of 110 Sydney Harbour Bridges worth of steel to corrode in the ocean, offshore oil and gas companies must completely remove their old infrastructure and repurpose it for the wind turbines this country needs for a clean energy future.”
Quotes attributed to Jess Beckerling, Executive Director for the Conservation Council WA:
“Over 42% of the national offshore oil and gas clean up liability is in WA. We are calling on the government to address the multi billion legacy of offshore oil and gas, which poses lasting threats to our marine ecology, before making any decisions on new and extended offshore oil and gas projects.
“The WA Domestic Gas report released last week in WA revealed that WA received only 8% of the allocated 15% of WA gas. The industry is devastating our coast line for exports which are displacing renewables not coal. The industry is blowing our carbon budget, and paying almost no tax. The very least the government could do is ensure companies like Woodside are liable for the full costs of decommissioning and clean up.”
Quotes from Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific:
“The oil and gas industry’s neglect in properly decommissioning offshore infrastructure is an environmental disaster in the making. Companies like Woodside are leaving their industrial waste to decay in our oceans, posing significant risks to marine ecosystems and potentially saddling taxpayers with massive cleanup costs.
“Our Statement calls on the Government to strengthen the power of regulators to hold these companies accountable. The practice of abandoning toxic structures or proposing dubious ‘repurposing’ schemes must end.
“We need swift, comprehensive, and environmentally sound decommissioning to protect our oceans, marine life, and climate from the long-term threats of contamination and methane leakage.”
Quotes attributed to Bree Ahrens, No New Gas campaigner for Environment Centre NT:
“For too long, companies have been able to walk away with massive profits while leaving their mess for taxpayers to deal with. Our oceans aren’t dumping grounds for the oil and gas industry.
“It’s time to strengthen regulation and enforcement to hold fossil fuel companies to account.”
