Australia’s offshore energy regulator has launched an investigation into an oil and gas spill at a Woodside Energy project off the Pilbara coast in Western Australia.
An estimated 16,000 litres of petroleum products were released into the Indian Ocean on 8 May during decommissioning at the company’s Griffin field, 58km north-west of Exmouth and 60km from Ningaloo marine park. The field stopped production in 2009.
The incident occurred near the company’s North West Shelf project, one of the world’s largest liquified natural gas projects. On Wednesday, the federal environment minister announced he proposed to approve Woodside’s application to extend the life of the North West Shelf from 2030 to 2070.
A spokesperson for the offshore safety and environment regulator, NOPSEMA (National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority), confirmed the incident at the Griffin field was under investigation.
In total, about 61,000 litres of water, hydrocarbons and chemicals – the volume of a back yard swimming pool – were released into the ocean.
A Woodside spokesperson said that a pipeline was being flushed to remove any residual gas before it was recovered to the surface when engineers saw fluids released into the ocean and stopped the pumps.
“While the exact composition of the discharge remains subject to investigation, it is thought to contain a mixture of water, produced water, remnant aged hydrocarbons and residual chemicals,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that since the incident a team of environmental scientists had monitored the discharge, with tracking buoys and spill modelling showing it was heading away from the coast.
“The risk to the marine environment is very low with no anticipated impact to shorelines or sensitive marine habitats,” they said.
Woodside has launched an internal investigation. The company said it had notified the relevant regulatory bodies and was supporting NOPSEMA’s investigation.
In its 2023 decommissioning environment plan, Woodside Energy identified 32 threatened marine animals and 53 protected migratory species – including whale sharks, blue, humpback and southern right whales, loggerhead and leatherback turtles, dolphins and dugongs – within the affected environment.
In addition to the North West Shelf extension, Woodside is seeking approval for its Browse development, near Scott Reef.
In early 2024, the WA Environmental Protection Authority informed Woodside that its preliminary view was to reject Browse, with one of the main reasons being the risk of an oil spill affecting the pristine marine environment.
Senator Peter Whish-Wilson, the Greens’ healthy oceans spokesperson, said: “A toxic spill this close to the Ningaloo Reef world heritage area or the pristine Scott Reef has the potential to be devastating for marine wildlife, including thousands of species of whales, sharks, fish, turtles and corals.”