Updated offshore oil and gas decommissioning liability estimate report

The Department of Industry, Science and Resources is developing a Roadmap on establishing and growing an offshore oil and gas decommissioning industry in Australia.

In response to the estimated $60 billion liability to decommission Australian oil and gas infrastructure, the roadmap aims to identify the scale of economic opportunity. Investigating how this opportunity can be leveraged to attract investment and create Australian jobs.

This $60 billion estimate was prepared in 2020. An updated baseline value of decommissioning liability will help to better identify opportunities for cost reduction across the pipeline. Therefore, the Department of Industry, Science and Resources is commissioning an updated decommissioning liability estimate.

In the Australian context, an updated baseline of decommissioning liability will enable both industry and government to better identify opportunities for cost reduction through coordination and prioritisation with a baseline to quantify milestones and progress.

The study requires an entity with expertise across the oil and gas decommissioning value chain, and data analysis and analytics capabilities to synthesis data in the resources sector in order to complete a study of this specialised nature.

To determine an accurate decommissioning expenditure, the report will need to quantify offshore assets in Commonwealth waters broken down by material type and geographical location. It will need to answer the questions of when infrastructure is due to be decommissioned, and what specific infrastructure is coming.