Fresh legal fight for oil and gas as Wilderness Society asks whether $25bn company can clean up gas fieldMatt MckenzieThe West AustralianTue, 5 August 2025 12:01AMEmail Matt Mckenzie
Environmentalists have lodged a lawsuit against the offshore regulator wanting further scrutiny over petroleum giant Santos’ plans to switch off the Reindeer gas field.
It will be the latest in a flurry of legal manoeuvres against the oil and gas industry and will target the enormous $60 billion forecast cost to decommission petroleum assets across the country.
The Wilderness Society will allege regulator NOPSEMA did not properly evaluate whether Santos — a $25bn company — could cover the price tag of closing and cleaning up Reindeer.
Reindeer comprises one unmanned platform and three wells off the Pilbara coast.
The field would therefore likely be a very small portion of Santos’s overall decommissioning liability, which was expected to be $US4.1bn ($6.4bn) across the globe in the most recent financial report. That bill would include the huge Gladstone and Darwin LNG plants.
A spokeswoman for the Wildnerness Society said it did not have an estimate for the decommissioning costs of Reindeer.
But the Federal Court fight is proceeding nonetheless, with NOPSEMA served late last week.
“This is the first time that an Australian Court will consider whether oil and gas companies are required to maintain adequate financial assurance to cover the costs of decommissioning,” Equity Generation Lawyers principal David Hertzberg said.
Mr Hertzberg is acting for The Wilderness Society.
“If our client is successful, it will set a precedent that oil and gas companies need to demonstrate that they can pay to clean up after themselves once they cease production,” he said.
“That’s important because our client wants to see offshore infrastructure properly cleaned up and oil and gas companies, not taxpayers, footing the bill.”
A NOPSEMA spokeswoman said it was aware the Society had asked for a judicial review but could not comment further.
But in the decision to approve the decommissioning plan earlier this month, the regulator said it was “satisfied” Santos’ had met financial assurance requirements.
The Federal Court battle comes after a flurry of legal bids by campaigners including attempts to stop Santos’ Barossa project and Woodside’s Scarborough development. Both projects have moved ahead.
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