Senate inquiry into Bight fizzles

PERTH (miningweekly.com) – A Senate inquiry into oil and gas exploration in the Great Australian Bight has failed to deliver conclusive results, with committee members failing to reach a consensus or make a formal recommendation to the government.

While the Greens senator remained opposed to any oil and gas exploration in the Bight, coalition senators pledged support for oil and gas exploration in the region, while Labor senators called for amendments to existing laws to ensure greater consultation with stakeholders and for oil and gas companies to publish oil spill modelling and emergency response plans.

The release of the Senate report followed a decision in March by the committee to reject a Bill by the Australian Greens party to ban oil and gas activities in the Bight, warning that the legislation would create regulatory uncertainty and that Australia’s reputation as an investment destination for oil and gas companies would be severely damaged by the Bill.

The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (Appea) director for South Australia Matthew Doman said it was pleasing that petroleum exploration in the Great Australian Bight continued to receive bipartisan support.

“Australia’s offshore oil and gas industry has a long track record of safe operations and low environmental impact,” Doman said.

“In recent years, the regulatory framework has been enhanced by the creation of a strong, independent regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Authority, which does not allow petroleum activities to proceed without satisfying the highest standards of environment and safety management, and appropriate community consultation.

“Australia has had, for decades, a safe, sustainable offshore petroleum industry in Victorian and Western Australian waters. There is absolutely no reason to doubt that South Australia can also support exploration and development in harmony with its marine environment.”

Doman said that the economic benefits could be "enormous", and while it is very early days, success in the Bight would attract substantial investment to South Australia and see significant local job creation.

Oil major BP in October of last year shelved plans to explore the Bight, following a review of the company’s upstream strategy.

The company said at the time that the Great Australian Bight project would not be able to compete for capital investment with other upstream opportunities in the company’s global portfolio, in the foreseeable future.

Several other companies, including Chevron, Murphy Oil and Santos, are proposing exploration in the Bight.