PGS suspends search for oil in Great Australia Bight
Controversial tests in the Great Australian Bight planned for next month have been put on hold but the search for oil in the Southern Ocean may not be dead in the water yet.
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The search for new oil and gas deposits in the Great Australian Bight will not go ahead next month after investors pulled funding from the seismic testing project.
Testing company PGS was in January granted approval from the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, after it was forced to push back exploration near Kangaroo Island from March to September.
But a PGS spokesman exclusively told The Advertiser that the testing has now been put on hold.
“We don’t have plans to acquire seismic in The Bight this year,” he said.
“The companies funding the acquisition have deferred until next year.”
Seismic testing involves injecting large air bubbles into water behind a test ship to record sounds as they bounce back from the ocean floor to detect oil and gas deposits.
Industry sources believe the two exploration companies — Karoon Gas and Bight Petroleum — behind the seismic testing bid are waiting to see if Equinor receives approval to drill its well in The Bight before investing millions in the search for new deposits.
Australian Southern Bluefin Tuna Industry Association CEO Brian Jeffriess said the industry, which was concluding this season’s tuna harvest, was relieved.
“It’s a two-year permit so they still have September to November next year to fall back on,” Mr Jeffriess said.
“There’s some new literature on how seismic surveys affect lobster.”
The testing was permitted for three months from September 1 across the 30,100 sqm survey area.
NOPSEMA gave the approval subject to conditions to “provide greater transparency and certainty to stakeholders”.
It must ensure no impact on pygmy blue whales, no interference with the migration of southern blue fin tuna into The Bight and no injury or behavioural disturbance to southern right whales.