The Wilderness Society has lodged a new complaint with the nation’s corporate watchdog, urging it to investigate how oil and gas companies report their clean-up costs.
Without reform, the group fears taxpayers could be left footing the bill for decommissioning large amounts of industry infrastructure, such as oil and gas rigs.
The environmental advocacy group has asked the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), to prioritise Santos, Woodside, Beach Energy and Amplitude Energy, which all have significant offshore decommissioning liabilities.
ASIC announced in May that it would scrutinise companies’ disclosures of decommissioning and site-restoration costs during the 2026–27 financial year.
“ASIC has said clean-up costs are on its radar this year. Now it needs to show it means it, by taking action against companies that are doing everything possible to keep real liabilities off their books,” said Amanda Holly, manager of corporate advocacy and engagement at the Wilderness Society.
The group pointed to Pilot Energy and Triangle Energy, which entered into voluntary administration in July, leaving the Cliff Head oil platform off WA mothballed and questions over who would pay its estimated $200 million decommissioning bill.
“This is an absolutely red-hot environmental and financial issue,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.
“The cleanup costs for Australia’s offshore oil and gas companies could run over a hundred billion dollars. These companies will do anything they possibly can to put that cost onto the taxpayer or the environment or both.
“We’ve already seen this happen, with Woodside’s aging Northern Endeavour project offloaded to a tiny company in 2016 that went broke. Governments and industry have been scrambling to work out what to do ever since.”
Last month, Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King authorised taxpayer funding to keep the ageing Cliff Head platform safe amid local concerns about its potential impact on nearby crayfishing grounds.
A government spokesperson told the ABC it would be unacceptable to do nothing while the companies’ affairs were being resolved, saying “all costs of government will be recovered and the taxpayer will not foot the bill”.
