Woodside sold the project to an insubstantial company to avoid a few hundred million in decommissioning costs: now it and its competitors will pay the price.
WA Premier Mark McGowan warned Alcoa to lift its game or face curtailed mining, but his successor Roger Cook slashed water supply protections after a possibly empty threat from the US miner.
Decommissioning oil vessel could cost taxpayers $230m
The sale of a Woodside offshore oil vessel to a fledgling company that has since gone belly up could potentially see taxpayers footing a huge decommissioning bill.
A newborn oil and gas company that four years ago bought an ageing Woodside offshore facility for a pittance, allowing the gas giant to avoid a $230 million clean-up, went into liquidation last week, and Australian taxpayers may be left with the bill.
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Boiling Cold investigations are sometimes published elsewhere to increase readership and maximise the impact of the journalism.
Note: as of 2026, the likely cost to decommission the Northern Endeavour has ballooned to over $2 billion, but offshore oil and gas producers will now bear it via a production levy imposed by the Federal Government.
I worked in oil & gas in commercial and engineering roles for 20 years. Since 2016, I have written for The West Australian, WAtoday, The Guardian and Boiling Cold, winning five WA Media Awards.
Woodside sold the project to an insubstantial company to avoid a few hundred million in decommissioning costs: now it and its competitors will pay the price.
Peter Milne
Peter Milne
