BP leaving Bight: APPEA disappointed, Greens say ‘good riddance’

‘Leave the Bight!’

Another activist group, The Wilderness Society, has welcomed the BP decision, saying that all oil and gas companies should follow BP’s lead and leave the Great Australian Bight.

The group highlighted the fact that Australia’s offshore oil and gas regulator, NOPSEMA, has sent back BP’s application to drill in the Bight three times.

“If BP, with all its experience, cannot produce an acceptable drilling plan for NOPSEMA, the remaining companies exploring in the Bight will be wasting their shareholders’ money trying to pursue this folly,” said Wilderness Society National Director Lyndon Schneiders.

“This decision shows that it’s too expensive to establish the significant and costly risk management and clean up capacity infrastructure needed to protect our communities from the enormous spill risks associated with drilling in this part of the world. Clearly, this is a far-too-high-cost oil basin for any oil company to consider exploiting.”

While APPEA’s Matthew Doman said Chevron, Murphy and Santos would continue pursuing their drilling plans in the Great Australian Bight, The Wilderness Society has a different opinion.

“Chevron, Santos, Murphy, and Karoon—which received its permit just last week—will face the same massive costs and increasing community opposition that BP experienced. We call on these companies to follow BP’s lead and leave the Bight, and the communities surrounding the Bight, in peace,” Schneiders said.

Wilderness Society South Australia Director Peter Owen said: “The Great Australian Bight waters are deeper, more treacherous and more remote than the Gulf of Mexico, where BP was responsible for 800 million liters of oil spewing into the Gulf for 87 days in 2010. Waves in the Bight in winter are six times bigger than the waves in the Gulf of Mexico around the time of BP’s disaster. Even in summer, Bight waves are four times higher.

The Wilderness Society has called for the government to rescind all exploration permits in the Bight Basin.

Offshore Energy Today Staff