Australian taxpayers on the hook to pay Chevron more than $500m to clean up oil wells | Oil and gas companies

The Australian government has to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the American oil and gas company Chevron to help cleanse the Oil wells on Barrow Island in Western Australia under an agreement in the 1980s.

The Western Australian government is faced with a heavy invoice that is estimated to be $ 129 million to help repair an open sea nature reserve in which 900 wells have been drilled in the last twenty years.

Chevron says that more than 1 billion dollars of royalties for oil and gas removed from the island, about 70 km from the northwest coast of the province, is $ 3-$ 3. Especially within the scope of the state legislation written for the projectFederal and state taxpayers will have to repay approximately half of them to help meet improvement costs.

A Wa government minute obtained by Independent news site boiling cold In accordance with the laws of Freedom of Information, Chevron suggests that it will cost more than $ 2.3 billion to correct the site that produces 335 million barrels of oil to its partners.

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The legislation predicts that the company will pay 40% of the difference between Chevron’s sales revenue and operational costs, and 75% of the payment will go to the federal government and 25% to WA.

Legislation, when the production ends on the site will work in contrast to the calculation, he said. Chevron and his partners were re-dividing what they paid 75-25%of the exxonmobil and Santos, the federal and state governments.

Oil production in the field stopped in May. According to the newly published documents, WA Madenlar Office, Industrial Regulation and Security Reported on the subject in 2022. This report suggested that Chevron could spend $ 1.3 billion in cleaning during the time period and could trigger a cost of about $ 129 million.

Authorities said they aim to “approach Chevron to demand direct cost forecasts”. The documents do not show what these discussions give.

According to the conditions of the agreement, Commonwealth will have to pay three times the state government and imply that he may encounter an invoice of $ 387 million. Chevron and his partners recommend a total payment of $ 516 million. If Chevron spends more cleaning before 2028 to maximize the repayment of copyrights, the last amount may be higher.

In response to the expected cost questions, a WA department spokesman is not included in the state budget forecasts of the next four years, but a potential responsibility is a potential responsibility. Annual Report on State Finance. The financial report acknowledged that after paying Chevron expenses and the state’s verification and supervision of the state, it would have to be a significant amount of copyright ”.

The Department of Federal Industry, Science and Resources refrained from commenting. In accordance with the state law, a WA government is waiting for the evaluation of which repayment is required.

The cleaning cost may include dealing with a gas leakage near the Old Barrow Island oil wells, which Chevron notified to the state regulator in May. The company is unknown The gas was leaking to the surface Old Barrow Island near the oil wells.

A Chevron spokesman said that data analysis shows that “hydrocarbons are an environmental risk arising from the underground place, especially gas, groundwater and migration to the surface”. They said that the company informed the regulators and that it would work with them to çim developing and implementing a comprehensive investigation program ”.

Sözcü said that the company has taken its management for Barrow Island seriously and “in accordance with the relevant laws and regulations, the environmental impacts and risks on our sites depend on responsible management”.

Mark Ogge of the Australian Institute, the revelation of the “Australian gas resources by our governments showed the extraordinary scale of bad management,” he said.

“Our governments are not only giving our resources free of charge, and they cannot properly tax on these foreign companies, but they also give back most of their inadequate copyrights.”

“This is entirely the responsibility of Australia and WA governments. He had 40 years to correct this terrible agreement, but they chose not to account.”

A Wa Government database It reveals the scale of the necessary cleaning. About 700 of the wells on the island are more than 40 years of age. A maximum of four drilling towers will be used to clog before the wells are abandoned. The procedure is usually designed to permanently seal oil and gas underground using cement. In 16 regions contaminated with hydrocarbons, healing will be required.

The Gorgon -liquefied natural gas facility, also operated by Chevron, will remain on the island after the wells are excluded.