2018 report out now.
The 2018 South Australia Petroleum and Geothermal Energy Act 2000 compliance report recently tabled in Parliament publicly demonstrates the Department for Energy and Mining’s (DEM’s) regulatory oversight of the energy resources sector.
The report details the compliance and regulatory surveillance activities of the Energy Resources Division and provides relevant indicators on how companies within the energy resource sector are working to meet compliance obligations and to mitigate and manage genuine environmental risks associated with their operations. The collation of DEM’s assessment and compliance monitoring activities and analysis captured within the report guide future approaches.
In 2018, 229 activity notifications relating to geophysical, drilling and production operations were assessed. Ninety-nine wells were spudded and 51 wells fracture stimulated taking the total number of petroleum and geothermal wells in South Australia to 2,777 and total number of petroleum wells fracture stimulated to 951.
Field surveillance activities conducted across the Cooper, Eromanga, Arrowie, Otway and Telford basins covered 132 individual site inspections, identifying 24 sites where environmental improvements were required. In all cases licensees took appropriate action to ensure compliance with relevant statements of environmental objectives.
Other key information in the report includes newly approved and reviewed statements of environmental objectives, fitness-for-purpose reviews, reporting of industry significant environmental benefit contributions, co-produced water monitoring for the Far North Prescribed Wells Area, analysis of serious and reportable incidents and their root causes, and a summary of resource royalty payments and compliance.
Download the 2018 compliance report (PDF 2.7 MB)
– Mike Malavazos, August 2019
