“Huge news”: Regulator draws red line through offshore blasting proposal near Warrnambool

Surfrider Foundation Australia has expressed its delight after regulators rejected a seismic testing project off the coast of Warrnambool - a decision campaigners say is a “rare example” of a multinational oil and gas proposal being stopped through the approvals process.

On February 11, the offshore regulator National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) knocked back a seismic survey proposal from French geoscience company Viridien, formerly known as CGG.

“It’s huge news … this is the first time we’ve ever seen a rejection by the regulator,” Drew McPherson from Surfrider Foundation Australia told the Brolga.

What’s seismic testing? Seismic testing, also referred to as seismic blasting, uses powerful sound waves to map underground gas reserves. Environmental groups say the blasts can disturb whales and other marine life, particularly in waters used as migration routes.

Two years of scrutiny: McPherson said the proposal was challenged through repeated technical reviews of the company’s environmental plans.

• He said marine scientists and environmental lawyers spent nearly two years analysing submissions and identifying flaws in the plans.

• According to campaigners, the company failed to show it could properly reduce risks to critically endangered species including the Pygmy Blue Whale and the Southern Right Whale.

He argued seismic blasting produces some of the loudest human-made underwater noise and said mitigation measures proposed in Viridien’s plans were “flawed and untested”.

Other projects continue: The wider debate about offshore gas exploration in southern Australia is far from over.

• The Federal Government is moving ahead with new exploration releases in the Otway Basin.

• Under the 2025 acreage release, about 2.5 million hectares of ocean off Victoria and Tasmania could be opened for future exploration. 

• Environmental advocates like Surfrider and the Australian Marine Conservation Society say those waters overlap with whale migration paths, major fishing grounds, tourism areas and the Great Southern Reef ecosystem.

McPherson called the Otway Basin move “hugely disrespectful”, criticising the December 12 announcement of the project and what he said was an ill-timed eight-week community consultation period.

“They've given the gas companies six months to bid on the areas that they want to purchase and drill and explore or exploit, and they give the community eight weeks over the busiest time of year,” he said.

Crunch time: Public consultation on the proposal has been extended to February 20.

McPherson said he expected the next phase of the project to “be really interesting” after seeing this proposal knocked back.

“If you look at the [release] proposal that the government's put on the table, there's large areas there that are going to be seismic blasted, and these areas are off the continental shelf.” 

“The continental shelf in the Southern Ocean has never been explored for offshore oil and gas,” McPherson said.

“There's evidence [that] when you drill and explore at those depths, like up in the Gulf of Mexico, there's ruptures, there’s fractures, there's leaks and spills, because it's really risky.”