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.
Northern Oil and Gas Australia bought the Northern Endeavour floating oil production vessel in the Timor Sea from Woodside in 2016 and went into liquidation in early 2020.
The Federal Government is now decommissioning the project, financed by a levy on offshore oil and gas production.
The owner of an oil vessel in the Timor Sea falling into liquidation may make the Federal Government very cautious about who ExxonMobil can sell its Bass Strait assets to.
