A Victorian parliamentary committee has recommended oil and gas companies provide funding in removing end-of-life offshore oil and gas infrastructure in the Bass Strait among other obligations to clean up their old infrastructure.
The Victorian Legislative Council Environment and Planning Committee has released its report into the state’s looming decommissioning challenge.
Containing 38 findings and 24 recommendations, the inquiry establishes a strict regulatory roadmap for managing dozens of ageing platforms, subsea pipelines, and wells as regional fields reach the end of their productive lives.
Committee Chair Ryan Batchelor emphasised that the multi-decade dismantling campaign represents a massive operational undertaking that requires total corporate financial accountability.
“Decommissioning oil and gas infrastructure in the Bass Strait will be an enormous undertaking over the coming decades,” Batchelor said.
“We are also mindful that Victorian taxpayers should not foot the bill for the costs.”
To insulate the public purse, the committee urged the Victorian government to align state laws with Commonwealth legislation by introducing strict trailing liability provisions.
This legal mechanism ensures companies pay the costs of their own decommissioning, even if assets are sold or companies change hands.
It also recommends independent verification of plugged wells alongside perpetual environmental monitoring.
While the report flags extensive economic opportunities for regional Victoria, including specialised recycling jobs at South Gippsland’s Barry Beach Marine Terminal, green groups have expressed mixed reactions.
Friends of the Earth Melbourne has commended the report for its polluter pays focus and the push for domestic recycling.
“Strong financial safeguards, trailing liabilities and domestic recycling will all help Victoria deal responsibly with, and benefit from, the incoming wave of decommissioning liabilities,” Friends of the Earth offshore campaigner Stanley Woodhouse said.
However, the group warned of a loophole in the report’s integrity in the suggestion that fossil fuel companies could be allowed to abandon some toxic oil and gas infrastructure in the sea if leaving it in place can be shown to deliver better environmental outcomes.
“There is no world in which the ocean dumping of contaminated industrial waste offers a benefit to the environment. Our leaders need to stop pandering to industry lobby talking points and commit to what is right for Victorians and their environment,” said Woodhouse.
