WA Premier Roger Cook's core "Made in WA" election policy will be tested by his use of local content provisions to keep Chevron's WA engineers working in WA.
The burden on taxpayers from the failed Northern Endeavour vessel continues to grow - $10M in one month - while the Government decides what to do next.
The Northern Endeavor mess started with Woodside paying to rid itself of a rusty ageing asset, ended with a $362 million liability for the Government and in between was a regulatory shambles.
An eight year wait for ENI's Woollybutt oil field to be decommissioned and poor maintenance have caused subsea kit to surface and pose a danger to vessels.
North Sea expert recommends changes to stop a repeat of Woodside escaping a $360 million cleanup bill by paying a tiny inexperienced company to take an old rusty asset.
While the idle Northern Endeavour costs $4 million a month, Government and industry are still talking about how to keep the clean-up bill below a possible $230 million.
If Western Gas' Equus LNG project does not take off in these tough times neither the small company nor regulator NOPTA have an answer to how making safe the wells is paid for.
If Woodside's argument that a reef's environmental benefit outweighs 400 tonnes of plastic in the ocean wins over NOPSEMA then leaving everything on the seabed could become the default option for Australia's oil and gas players.
It will cost $76 billion to clean up after Australia's oil and gas industry, with a good chunk to be borne by taxpayers, and no one is in a hurry to start the work.
A debt of $165 million and unpaid employees can be added to a massive decommissioning liability as the cost of Northern Endeavour's short life after Woodside.
Offshore oil and gas operators that continually delay costly decommissioning will now be watched more closely by offshore safety and environment regulator NOPSEMA.
The first bill of $10 million bill is due for the failed Northern Endeavour as it is revealed that Woodside's sale of the vessel four years ago required no government approval.
