A notice issued today by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) found that PTTEP - the same company responsible for the catastrophic Montara oil spill - was unable to deal with a major spill due to untrained staff and a lack of correct equipment.
“NOPSEMA have yet again treated oil companies like an old friend instead of punishing them for their failures to adhere to regulations,” Greenpeace Campaigner Jonathan Moylan said.
“It is alarming that there have been two cases this year where oil companies have been found to not have appropriate capacity to manage an oil spill in operating oilfields, yet have been allowed to keep drilling.
“Responding to these critical failures and the risks they pose by issuing ‘improvement notices’ rather than suspending operations is like letting a drunk driver behind the wheel on the way to their traffic offender program.”
Moylan said the repeated inaction should serve as a reminder of why oil drilling should not be permitted in the Great Australian Bight.
“Only a month ago, Santos, one of the companies wanting to drill in the Great Australian Bight, was also found to not have sufficient capacity to respond to an oil spill in its Mutineer-Exeter oilfield,” he said.
“With companies including Chevron engaging in aggressive cost-cutting, and plans to conduct extreme deepwater drilling in the pristine marine wilderness of the Great Australian Bight, it is alarming that oil companies are allowed to continue production even where the federal regulator has found that they are unable to respond to a catastrophic spill.
“If these conditions continue it is only a matter of time before we are faced with an ecological disaster.”
For interviews contact:
Simon Black
Greenpeace Senior Media Campaigner
0418 219 086 / simon.black@greenpeace.org