Asia eyes Australia blueprint as $100b oil, gas clean-up looms

Australia has passed legislation that could set a precedent for who pays to clean up the fossil fuel industry in Asia, making former owners of oil and gas fields responsible for the costs of dismantling facilities if later owners fail.

The new law provides a blueprint for governments tussling with the oil and gas industry over the removal of hundreds of obsolete energy facilities, particularly as the world moves to a lower-carbon economy.

The cost of decommissioning offshore facilities in Australia is expected to run to $40 billion, with half of that in the next 10 years. For Asia-Pacific as a whole the clean-up bill is estimated at $100 billion out to 2050, say consultants Wood Mackenzie.

Australia’s legislation steps up scrutiny of asset sales to ensure any new owner has the financial and technical capacity to handle decommissioning. Most controversially, it introduces trailing liability, modelled on the UK’s North Sea regime, holding former owners of assets liable for decommissioning if a current owner goes bust.

Selling mature oil and gas fields to niche players with low overheads who can prolong the lives of the fields profitably has been standard practice at ageing sites around the world, especially in the North Sea, U.S. Gulf of Mexico and off Australia.