Appea opposes decommissioning levy
Australia’s peak oil and gas body Appea on June 29 called a new levy of A$0.48/barrel on all offshore oil producers as over the top and extreme. The levy is being imposed to cover the costs of decommissioning of the Laminaria-Corallina oil fields in the Timor Sea.
Appea CEO Andrew McConville said the proposed Laminaria-Corallina oilfields and associated infrastructure levy will see a number of offshore oil and gas companies footing a "massive" bill for a project they have never been involved in, never benefitted from and up to 3,500 km away from their operations.
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“Any levy is unreasonable in any form but one being so extreme will be a major disincentive for investment at a time when policy stability and certainty is critical,” he said. “This is a terrible precedent and could have serious repercussions to Australia’s economy, to jobs and to our attractiveness as an investment destination when, as the global economy recovers, competition for investment capital will intensify.”
McConville said the government should systematically consider alternatives to reduce the costs of its own current management of the project, overall decommissioning costs and look at alternative decommissioning and cost-recovery measures.
The Laminaria-Corallina oilfields were operated by Northern Oil & Gas Australia which went into liquidation in 2019.