Experts ask authority to hold oil giant to account on Bight Plan
In late April, the聽聽convened a group of experts from academia and industry to consider key issues around drilling in the Bight.聽Based on the event, these experts have made a pro-bono聽submission聽to the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).
NOPSEMA is currently assessing Equinor鈥檚 Environmental Plan submission to ensure it meets all legislative requirements to proceed.聽However, in the submission, the experts call on NOPSEMA to go one step further and hold Equinor to international best-practice standards.
The submission was co-authored by University of Sydney energy and natural resources law expert聽, with Emeritus Professor Andrew Hopkins (Australian National University), Greg Bourne (Australian Climate Council Council and former President of聽BP聽Australia), and Professor聽Tina Soliman-Hunter (Aberdeen University Centre for Energy Law).聽In the submission, the experts say that Equinor鈥檚 鈥渙verconfidence鈥� in its ability to prevent a major spill could lead to catastrophic environmental impacts.
鈥淭hroughout the environmental plan, Equinor has consistently made optimistic choices in order to convince the public and NOPSEMA that 鈥榠t is safe鈥� to drill,鈥� they write.聽鈥淗owever, we saw a similar style of overconfidence demonstrated in BP鈥檚 proposal to drill in the Gulf of Mexico, which led to one of the world鈥檚 biggest oil spills in 2010.聽History has shown us that overconfidence precedes catastrophic failure in many spheres of engineering endeavour. No matter how many layers of defence there are between a hazard and an accident, accidents can and still do happen.鈥�
Recommendations from the submission include that NOPSEMA:
- Require Equinor to carry out consultations with selected coastal communities and with other interested parties falling under the definition of 鈥榬elevant persons鈥� within the applicable 聽regulations;
- Request Equinor consult with all 鈥榬elevant parties鈥� in accordance with the 鈥榣eading鈥� regulatory practice of allowing no less than three months for public comment;
- Secure the public release of Equinor鈥檚 Well Operations Management Plan (WOMP);
- Require that Equinor鈥檚 wells are inspected during construction, operations and workover stages and compared to the approved WOMP to ensure that the well meets the approved WOMP;
- Ensure Equinor has demonstrated that it has learnt and implemented important lessons from BP鈥檚 Gulf of Mexico blowout in 2010, particularly in identifying the human and organisational causes of that blowout;
- Require that Equinor comply with Norway鈥檚 world-leading best-practice regulatory standards of drilling in the Bight;
- Require that Equinor adequately address protection of the 41 threatened species within the drilling area, by considering how both direct and indirect impacts will be reduced to 鈥榓s low as reasonably practicable鈥�;聽and
- Displace the American Petroleum Industry standards with the leading Norwegian NORSOK D-010 standard and adopt a 鈥榣ong-term perspective鈥� in assessing Equinor鈥檚 Environmental Plan for the benefit of all Australian citizens.
Header image:聽Great Australian Bight via Shutterstock, ID: 1339860548.聽