Latest news with #BarrowIsland
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Australia facing $500m Chevron cleaning bill; Obama breaks silence on Trump; and the blowback against office air
Good afternoon. The Australian government faces having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the American oil and gas company Chevron to help it clean up oil wells on Barrow Island, in Western Australia, under a deal made in the 1980s. The WA government also faces a hefty bill – estimated to be $129m – to help repair an offshore nature reserve where about 900 wells have been drilled over the past six decades. Chevron says it has paid more than $1bn in royalties – about $3 a barrel – for oil and gas extracted from beneath the island, which is about 70km off the state's north-west coast. Under state legislation written especially for the project, federal and state taxpayers will have to pay them back nearly half that amount to help cover remediation costs. Asio's 9/11-era questioning powers to become permanent despite warnings from human rights advocates Labor puts childcare centres on notice after abuse scandal with 'one strike' threat to funding Obama breaks silence on Trump's 'outrageous' call to prosecute him Sunday school teacher jailed for sexually abusing nine children protected by church leader, Victorian cult inquiry hears Daily Telegraph headline wrongly claiming 'Labor backs Hamas' breached accuracy rules, Australian Press Council finds AFP news agency calls on Israel to allow evacuation of its freelance contributors 'War is very funny for the first couple of years': how Russia's invasion transformed Ukraine's comedy scene Behind closed doors at a New York City federal building, people are confined after being seized by officers on their way out of immigration court on the 12th floor. This rare look inside Donald Trump's anti-immigration crackdown shows one of several rooms from which accounts have emerged of people being detained in unsuitable conditions with few basic provisions. Ice maintains the rooms are not used for detention. Meanwhile, the Trump administration has requested that the small Pacific nation of Palau accept asylum seekers currently residing in the US, amid a wider push from the US to deport migrants to countries they are not from. 'We're not gelded, we're not emasculated. We're very much virile and out there' – Michael McCormack The Nationals MP said he didn't want to be a boring interview for the media – this was one way of going about it. McCormack was responding to Liberal MP Dan Tehan, who had earlier compared McCormack and Barnaby Joyce to 'two steers in a paddock' after one former leader backed the other's push to repeal net zero by 2050. The party's current leader, David Littleproud, meanwhile, says he's 'relaxed' about whatever Joyce and McCormack are up to. Just days after the cancellation of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Donald Trump has claimed that the future owner of the US TV network CBS will provide him with $20m worth of advertising and programming as part of his settlement with Paramount over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion Is 'office air' to blame for your limp workday hair and spotty, flaky skin? Air conditioning, heating and poor ventilation in the office can contribute to drier skin and greasier hair, Natasha May writes – but other factors such as the commute may play a part too. Today's starter word is: FIX. You have five goes to get the longest word including the starter word. Play Wordiply. Enjoying the Afternoon Update? Then you'll love our Morning Mail newsletter. Sign up here to start the day with a curated breakdown of the key stories you need to know, and complete your daily news roundup. And follow the latest in US politics by signing up for This Week in Trumpland.
The Guardian
23-07-2025
- Business
- The Guardian
Australian taxpayers on the hook to pay Chevron more than $500m to clean up oil wells
The Australian government faces having to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the American oil and gas company Chevron to help it clean up oil wells on Barrow Island, in Western Australia, under a deal made in the 1980s. The Western Australian government also faces a hefty bill – estimated to be $129m – to help repair an offshore nature reserve where about 900 wells have been drilled over the past six decades. Chevron says it has paid more than $1bn in royalties – about $3 a barrel – for oil and gas extracted from beneath the island, which is about 70km off the state's north-west coast. Under state legislation written especially for the project, federal and state taxpayers will have to pay them back about nearly half that amount to help cover remediation costs. A WA government minute obtained by independent news site Boiling Cold under freedom-of-information laws suggests it will cost Chevron and its venture partners more than $2.3bn to fix the site, which has produced 335m barrels of oil. Sign up: AU Breaking News email The legislation stipulates that the company would pay 40% of the difference between Chevron's sales revenue and operational costs, with 75% of the payment going to the federal government and 25% to WA. The legislation stated that once production ended at the site the calculation would operate in reverse. Chevron and its partners, ExxonMobil and Santos, would be refunded 40% of what they spent on decommissioning the oilfield infrastructure for the following three years, with the federal and state governments again splitting what they paid back 75%-25%. Oil production at the site stopped in May. According to the newly released documents, the WA Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety did not have an estimate of the expected cost until Nine's WA Today reported on the issue in 2022. That report suggested Chevron could spend $1.3bn on the clean-up in the covered timeframe, triggering a cost to the state of about $129m. Officials said they intended to 'approach Chevron directly to request cost estimates'. The documents do not show what those discussions yielded. Under the terms of the deal, the commonwealth would be required to pay three times as much as the state government, implying it could face a bill of $387m. It suggests a total payment to Chevron and its partners of $516m. The final sum could be higher if Chevron spends more on the clean-up before 2028 to maximise its royalty refund. In response to questions about the expected cost, a WA department spokesman said the refund cost was not included in the state budget forward estimates – covering the next four years – but the potential liability was recognised as 'a non-quantifiable contingent liability' in an annual report on state finances. The finances report acknowledged that 'a significant amount of royalties will need to be refunded' after Chevron paid the costs and the state verified and audited them. The federal Department of Industry, Science and Resources declined to comment. It is waiting on a WA government assessment of what refund is required under state law. The clean-up cost may include dealing with a gas leak near old Barrow Island oil wells that Chevron reported to the state regulator in May. The company said an unknown amount of gas was seeping to the surface near its old Barrow Island oil wells. A Chevron spokesman said data analysis had indicated 'an environmental risk from the subsurface migration of hydrocarbons, primarily gas, to groundwater and the surface'. They said the company had informed regulators and would work with them to 'develop and implement a comprehensive investigation program'. Sign up to Afternoon Update Our Australian afternoon update breaks down the key stories of the day, telling you what's happening and why it matters after newsletter promotion The spokesperson said the company took its stewardship of Barrow Island seriously and was 'committed to the responsible management of environmental impacts and risks at our sites in accordance with relevant laws and regulations'. Mark Ogge, from the Australia Institute, said the revelation showed the 'extraordinary scale of the mismanagement of Australia's gas resources by our governments'. 'Not only have our governments been giving our resources away for free and failing to tax these foreign-owned corporations properly but they are also handing back much of the meagre royalties they have collected,' he said. 'This is entirely the responsibility of the Australian and WA governments. They had 40 years to fix this terrible deal but they have chosen not to. They need to be held to account.' A WA government database sets out the scale of the required clean-up. About 700 of the wells on the island are more than 40 years old. Up to four drilling rigs will be used to plug the wells before they are abandoned. The procedure is designed to permanently seal the oil and gas underground, usually using cement. Remediation will be needed at 16 sites contaminated with hydrocarbons. The Gorgon liquefied natural gas plant, also operated by Chevron, will remain on the island after the wells are decommissioned.
ABC News
23-07-2025
- Business
- ABC News
Taxpayers face $500m clean-up bill for Chevron's Barrow Island oil and gas project
Taxpayers face a potential $500 million bill to clean up aging oil and gas infrastructure left by Chevron off Western Australia's Pilbara, newly released state government documents reveal. The oil and gas giant is preparing to decommission its "WA Oil" project on Barrow Island, 50 kilometres north-west of Karratha, which ceased production in May after 60 years of operation. The process requires Chevron to cap 900 oil wells and rehabilitate the areas of the island impacted by the project. The exact cost of safely closing down the facility was previously unclear. But documents released after a Freedom of Information request by independent energy and climate journalist Peter Milne, and seen by the ABC, indicate state and federal governments will contribute at least half a billion dollars of the estimated $2.3 billion bill. The growing taxpayer liability stems from a 1985 agreement, allowing Chevron to be refunded royalties to cover 40 per cent of the cost of the first four years of decommissioning the project. Since operations began at Barrow Island in 1967, Chevron has paid more than $1 billion in royalties to the federal and WA governments, in a 75/25 per cent split. Milne's request led to the release of several 2022 emails from within WA's Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration (DMPE), as well as briefing notes to then-mines and petroleum minister Bill Johnston. All of the documents have been heavily redacted. One email revealed that total clean-up and rehabilitation costs at Barrow Island were expected to surpass $2.3 billion. But a separate email showed the department had not calculated how much of that WA would have to pay, and only made efforts to do so after being alerted to the situation by media reports. In 2022, Milne reported that an internal Chevron document put the cost of the first four years of the Barrow Island clean-up — which the company is eligible to be compensated for — at $1.3 billion. It is this figure that the department referenced in the email. "[The department] intends to approach Chevron directly to request cost estimates," the email read. "Until we are able to glean such details, we only have what has been reported in the media. "Based on that, the 'refund' from the State govt is: $1.29 billion x 0.4 x 0.25 = $129 million." Under the 75/25 split between the federal and state governments spelled out in the 1985 agreement, the Commonwealth would be required to refund $387 million to Chevron. Shadow Mines and Petroleum Minister Shane Love has questioned the fairness of the deal. "You'd have to question the intergenerational fairness of a government of the day taking the royalties and then asking the generation of the future to pay for the share of the cost of the rehabilitation," Mr Love said. The criticism was echoed by progressive think tank The Australia Institute. Principal advisor Mark Ogge said it was an outrage Chevron could access state and federal funding to meet its environmental liabilities. "It's a massive giveaway of Australian taxpayers' money to a company that's already on an unbelievably good deal," Mr Ogge said. A spokesperson for the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration said it still did not know the total cost the state government may need to pay in the decommissioning process."The total amount of any potential refund will not be known until West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd submits its final royalty returns and the department has reviewed and audited the company's rehabilitation and decommissioning costs," the statement said. Chevron declined to be interviewed but provided a statement. "Under relevant state legislation, which has been in place for the past four decades, costs for eligible WA Oil decommissioning activities can be partially refunded from previously paid royalties," the statement read. "While costs may be partially refunded, Chevron Australian and its WA Oil joint venture partners will continue to pay the vast majority of the decommissioning costs, given the strict rules outlined in the legislation. "We will continue to engage with state and federal governments in relation to the WA Oil decommissioning project and the administration of the royalty regime."
ABC News
15-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Chevron's Barrow Island gas leak sparks scrutiny of Western Australia's oil and gas decommissioning
Two environmental incidents in quick succession linked to aging oil and gas infrastructure in Western Australia's north have prompted questions over the industry's commitment to decommissioning and clean-up work. Oil and gas giant Chevron ended oil production on Barrow Island, 50 kilometres north west of Karratha on WA's Pilbara coast in mid-May, and is preparing to decommission the site. It has now confirmed that at the time, it detected an unknown amount of gas leaking into the island's groundwater and surface from underground. "As part of detailed planning for the decommissioning of WA oil infrastructure, data analysis has indicated an environmental risk from the subsurface migration of hydrocarbons, primarily gas, to groundwater and the surface," a Chevron spokesperson said. "We have informed relevant regulatory agencies, and we will work with them to develop a comprehensive investigation program." A spokesperson for the Department of Mines, Petroleum and Exploration said the extent of the gas flow is not yet known, and it is investigating the situation. The gas leak came in the same month an oil spill near the World Heritage-listed Ningaloo Reef occurred while Woodside was decommissioning the offshore Griffin oil and gas field. Decommissioning refers to the process of safely closing a mine or oil and gas site, with the expectation that the impacted environment will be rehabilitated afterwards. Greens MLC Sophie McNeill said the incident was "deeply concerning". "Used offshore oil and gas structures can rupture, they can leak and decay, and that causes chemical and heavy metals to spread into the environment," she said. "The Greens are calling on the state government to properly regulate the gas industry and ensure that they actually do clean up their sites, and that they spend the money needed to decommission them properly." Chevron did not say how much it is planning to spend on decommissioning the Barrow Island oil project. But it pointed to its work on Thevenard Island, south of Barrow Island, where it has almost finished dismantling all infrastructure from an oil project that closed in 2014, as evidence of its commitment to decommissioning. WA Nationals leader and shadow mines and petroleum minister Shane Love said he was seeking further information from the state government about the Barrow Island incident. "Any potential gas leaks or contamination should always be treated with the utmost seriousness," Mr Love said. "Decommissioning is set to become a major industry in the coming decades as oil and gas assets reach end-of-life. It is absolutely vital that this work is done to the highest possible standard," he said. Mr Love said he had also been in contact with Chevron representatives, who assured him they were addressing the situation. The incidents are symptoms of a nationwide problem as a generation of offshore oil and gas infrastructure reaches the end of its working life. A study by the Centre of Decommissioning Australia (CODA), an industry-backed research body, found the cost of plugging the country's oil wells and removing its underwater pipelines would be roughly $60 billion. Most of the infrastructure that will need to be decommissioned is located in the Northern Carnarvon Basin, off the north-west coast of WA. In 2012, WA became the first state to set up a levy for mining companies to fund the rehabilitation of abandoned mine sites. But it did not include offshore oil and gas producers. A review of the Mining Rehabilitation Fund released in 2024, revealed some consultants approached by the report's authors suggested widening the fund's scope to include oil and gas on land and within state waters. But the report itself did not consider the idea. "We have not identified whether there is a strong case for government intervention in this area," the report read. Asked if the WA government would consider widening the scope of the fund, or requiring energy companies to pay a separate levy, Mines and Petroleum Minister David Michael said existing laws and regulations were appropriate. He said the government's updated decommissioning policy and regulations for the industry had been released last year. "The state government has the power to direct an operator to meet its decommissioning and rehabilitation obligations," he said. "These documents outline the government's expectations for decommissioning and provide clear guidance to registered holders on [their] obligations."
The Sun
10-05-2025
- Health
- The Sun
Inside rotting UK town where life expectancy is as bad as SYRIA & smack addicts hole up in ‘Victorian slum' estates
Graeme Culliford Published: Invalid Date, IT is the windswept English town where life expectancy is as low as war-torn Syria and where almost one third of the population is in poor health. Now, Barrow Island residents have told how their streets are overrun with drug addicts, bored youngsters are chronically depressed, and death is so common they have two funerals a week. 13 13 13 13 Shop owner Patrick Hunter almost added to the Cumbrian town's grim mortality toll when he suffered a massive heart attack two years ago. He blames his smoking habit but says others have perished prematurely after a lifetime of toiling on the island's huge shipbuilding yard, previously run by the Vickers company. Patrick, 67, said: 'I'm a smoker and I wish we were better educated about how to look after our health when we were growing up. 'I smoke about 20 a day now, and I used to get through 30 or 40 a day before I had a heart attack and a triple bypass a couple of years back. 'I was one of the lucky ones. There can be one or two funerals a week here, and some of the recent ones have been for young people in their 30s. 'I don't know what's going wrong. My mate used to work for Vickers, and he says that as soon as his colleagues got to pension age, they would drop dead. 'I'm not saying there was anything wrong with the health and safety over there – it's just it wasn't as good as it is today. 'When you've been burying people as often as we do round here, you wonder how long you've got left. 'And it's sad that people who work so hard all their lives never get to enjoy their retirement.' Patrick has run the Mace convenience store on Barrow Island, which is part of Barrow-in-Furness on the outer fringes of the Lake District, since 1986. 13 He can still recall when over 12,000 workers from the shipbuilding yard would flood the streets at 4.30pm clock off time. But following mass layoffs in the 1990s when UK heavy industry was devastated by competition from overseas, the town's fortunes plummeted, forcing pubs, greengrocers and two local butchers and bakers to close down. Today, the Irish sea-facing island has just 2,616 residents according to the last census and a handful of stores, including a chemist, a vape shop and a Co-op supermarket. With 61 per cent of the population 'economically inactive,' the jobless can often be found drinking from late morning in the handful of pubs still going. Tragically, at 71, Barrow's male life expectancy is on a par with Syria, which was ravaged by civil war until the collapse of the Assad regime last December. The area ranks in the worst 0.5 per cent for life expectancy in the UK, and previous studies have shown that 29.3 per cent are in poor health, while 28.2 per cent have no qualifications. Patrick added: 'When I was growing up, you would go to school and then work for Vickers at the shipyard, those were your only options. 'When the day shift would end at 4.30pm, thousands of people would pour out on to the streets – it was amazing. 'There were shops all over the place back then. We had two butchers and bakers and there was a great sense of community, but they've all gone. 'They are always promising to invest in Barrow - they've been promising to build a business park and a marina for years – but it never happens. 'Today, young people find it's hard to get work and the jobs going are all minimum wage, so you can never hope to buy a car or save for a house.' 'Victorian slums' 13 13 Speaking in the shadow thrown out by a pair of crumbling, 19th-century tenement buildings, unemployed Christopher Cooke says he dares not step outside at night as the streets are so dangerous. Egerton Court, where he lives, has been compared to a Victorian slum and the 144 flats built to house shipyard workers are now overrun with heroin addicts and petty criminals. Stocky bull terriers are the pet of choice for most residents. Christopher, 55, said: 'I used to struggle on £375 a month Universal Credit, but now I get Personal Independence Payments as I've been diagnosed with anxiety and depression and I'm financially set. 'The rent is cheap here – about £500 a month – but I don't want to be here because it's bad for your health when everyone is drugged up. 'You wouldn't want to be here at night - it's constant arguments and police. I don't go out at night because I don't feel safe, there are so many drug addicts and most of them are fresh out of jail. 'Last year, I saw a group of them jump a guy and leave him lying on the floor here. 'The police are here all the time but they don't do much. There are lots of overdoses. I remember there being seven in one year when a dodgy batch of pills was going around. 'But alive or dead, what future does anyone have here?' When the Sun visited Barrow Island last week, a stiff sea breeze had brought an unseasonable chill to the air despite the rest of the country basking in warmth and sunshine. Tellingly, a funeral cortege swept past as our team was doing interviews, and a search of the obituary pages show it was for a 93-year-old grandmother-of-three. Hers was one of at least three funerals to take place that week. Locals complain that Barrow has long been forgotten by Westminster politicians despite the shipyard, which is now owned by BAE, still being central to the construction and maintenance of nuclear submarines. 'Waiting for the end' 13 13 Laura, 40, who declined to give her last name, is another resident desperate to leave. Sitting on her mobility scooter outside the only chemist, she said: 'It's miserable and depressing here, and everyone is on drugs in some areas. 'There's nothing to do, and everyone looks like they are about to die, or at least they are waiting for the end. 'No one here has any money, so we can't afford to do anything fun. There's only one cinema and it doesn't show many films. 'There are jobs here, but you have to want to do them, and most people can't be a**ed, they'd rather be on benefits. There's a big drug problem and a lot of heroin addicts. "I know how to spot them because I've been clean 12 years myself. I'm desperate to move back to Manchester.' There's nothing to do, and everyone looks like they are about to die, or at least they are waiting for the end. Laura Thankfully, not everyone has lost faith in Barrow Island, however. Cleaner Daniel Norcross, 35, and his partner Bryony Fletcher, 32, say it's a great place to raise a family. Speaking alongside their son James Norcross, three, Daniel said: 'We love living here. The people are friendly and there's a real sense of community. 'We moved here from Accrington, Lancs, six months ago, and that's a much worse place to live. 'We would see people taking drugs in the streets over there, and we've never seen that in Barrow. 'BAE has kept this town going, and they are doing really great things.' Bryony added: 'We have four children between us, and we think it's a great place to raise kids. We pay £610 a month for a two-bedroom flat and that's affordable for a family like us. 'Yes, Barrow is run down in places, but you can say that about anywhere in the country, and we feel it's getting better all the time.' 13 13 13
