Tuesday, January 10, 2012

Woodside stokes fears of oil leak

Woodside stokes fears of oil leak:
Woodside has taken its complaint over the WA government’s directive to the Federal Court in Perth, arguing the requirement would cost “in the order of $20 million or more”. Yet its legal complaint is based on whether the WA directive was issued correctly, rather than on the merits of using a surface plug.

Woodside noted in legal documents the state government relied partly on “expressions of concern” penned by Chevron without allowing Woodside to respond. (Woodside and Chevron are joint-venture partners in the North West Shelf gas project.)

The issue has arisen at an awkward time for Woodside, which is reliant on state government support to develop the controversial James Price Point gas processing hub.

The state government believes Woodside has reneged on a deal to plug the wells to its standards when it received permission to drill the gas wells. But a person close to the oil and gas company argued that Woodside gave no such pre­commitment.

No comments:

Post a Comment