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Australian independent Santos has been fined just A$10,000 (US$6254) over a 2022 condensate spill at its Varanus Island Marine Terminal, located off the northwest coast of Western Australia (WA), which is claimed to have killed marine mammals.
The Adelaide-headquartered company on Monday plead guilty in the Karratha Magistrates Court to a charge of “failing to operate its licensed pipeline in a proper and workmanlike manner [and] failing to prevent the escape of petroleum”.
Santos was fined A$10,000 and ordered to pay a further A$9700 in court costs, confirmed the Western Australian Department of Energy, Mines, Industry Regulation & Safety (DEMIRS) — but the penalty did little to appease environmentalists.
“Santos are guilty of gross negligence and catastrophic environmental vandalism with fatal consequences,” Anna Chapman, fossil fuels program manager at the Conservation Council of WA.
“The catastrophic damage caused by the oil and gas industry in WA was revealed by images of dead dolphins and eye-witness accounts of sea snakes writhing in agony after the spill, exposed in parliament,” said Chapman.
On 20 March 2022, approximately 25,000 litres of condensate escaped from a rupture in the flexible part of a pipeline at Santos’ Varanus Island terminal that offloaded volumes to tankers. Shortly after dawn, condensate was observed on the ocean surface, prompting an immediate halt to the loading process.
The rupture occurred due to repeated overbending and kinking of the flexible loading line, which compromised its structure over time, according to the regulator.
A Santos spokesperson told Upstream that the company takes its environmental and regulatory compliance responsibilities very seriously, and deeply regrets the spill which occurred at the Varanus Island Marine Terminal after a flexible tanker loading line used for offtake operations ruptured.
“The incident occurred about two months before that part of the line was scheduled to be replaced and it had been maintained in accordance with the prescribed service life of the line. Prior to the rupture, regular surveys showed no damage or deformation of that part of the line.”
However, DEMIRS noted that support vessel crews were not sufficiently aware of Santos’ written procedures for loading offtake tankers, which had identified the hazard of kinking flexible loading lines and prescribed measures to prevent it.
DEMIRS executive director of resource and environmental compliance, Tyler Sujdovic, said the onus is on operators to ensure that all workers, including contractors, have the required training and access to up-to-date written procedures “to manage petroleum effectively when performing their assigned tasks”.
“Operating subsea pipelines in a ‘proper and workmanlike manner’ is a fundamental principle widely understood and applied by operators in the oil and gas industry. This principle is upheld through proactive risk management, adherence to best practices and meticulous documentation,” he noted.
After the incident, Santos reviewed its practices and implemented measures to prevent the kinking of flexible loading lines, and subsea monitoring of the position of the line, the regulator confirmed.
Sujdovic added the department would continue to enforce compliance to ensure companies observe all regulations and adopt best practice.
