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Bight drilling a BP investor risk: lobbyists

Investors in BP risk the oil giant suffering economic and reputational damage if plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight go ahead, lobby groups warn.

Apr 14, 2016, updated Apr 14, 2016
Protestors outside BP's Melbourne offices today clean up a fake oil spill. Supplied image

Protestors outside BP's Melbourne offices today clean up a fake oil spill. Supplied image

The Wilderness Society and investor charity ShareAction have distributed a damning briefing on BP’s controversial plans to drill four exploration wells in the bight ahead of the company’s annual general meeting in London.

It warns investors BP hasn’t released the project’s environmental plan, which has previously failed to meet the standards of the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority.

The briefing, released on Thursday, questions the quality of BP’s oil spill modelling and lack of disclosure particularly in the wake of a large accident in the Gulf of Mexico six years ago.

“Investors must question whether BP is assessing and addressing the full range of risks inherent in this controversial project,” it says.

ShareAction is concerned the project is a high-risk, high-cost gamble.

BP resubmitted its environmental plan in March, after the national regulator gave the company an opportunity to modify its proposal.

The oil giant says that’s neither an acceptance nor rejection.

The environmental, social and economic impacts of BP drilling in the bight are being investigated by a Senate inquiry, due to report in May.

Independent senator Nick Xenophon wants the final say to be handed from the national regulator to the Commonwealth.

The Wilderness Society fears the drilling would put at risk the bight’s diverse marine life, including humpback, sperm, blue and beak whales.

Environment groups will also stage a protest in Melbourne on Thursday, with demonstrators cleaning up a mock oil spill outside BP’s local headquarters.

The groups hope Thursday’s protest reminds the public that BP was responsible for the world’s largest oil spill accident in the Gulf of Mexico six years ago.

“BP totally stuffed up in the deep waters of the Gulf of Mexico with tragic consequences,” Wilderness Society South Australian director Peter Owen said.

“Now, BP wants to drill in the deeper, more treacherous and more remote waters of the Great Australian Bight. You have got to be kidding.”

The 2010 spill in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by an explosion on the Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling unit – operated by Transocean which drilled for BP.

AAP

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