Australian regulators have rejected BP's environmental plan for the major's deepwater, four-well drilling plan in the Great Australian Bight.
The National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) said it was not satisfied that the environment plan for exploration drilling in the Great Australian Bight had met regulatory requirements.
The move comes after NOPSEMA announced 28 October it would be taking extra time to review the plan, originally submitted to the regulator 1 October.
BP's proposed drilling plan in the Great Australian Bight, a large oceanic bight, or open bay, off the central and western portions of the southern coastline of southern mainland Australia, has attracted opposition from environmental organizations.
The program would be the first drilling carried out in the Great Australian Bight waters in over a decade, with few wells drilled before that. The area has come under renewed interest from oil majors, with more than 40,000sq km of 3D seismic surveys being shot. BP executives in Australia have described the area as being of one of the company's top five prospects worldwide.
However, Australian environmental organisation the Wilderness Society welcomed the recent setback, saying BP did not appear to have completed an oil pollution emergency plan or a comprehensive risk assessment and pointed to the marine life in the area as well as the harsh and remote environment the operator would be working in.
"After a thorough and rigorous assessment, NOPSEMA has determined that the environment plan does not yet meet the criteria for acceptance under the environment regulations, and has advised BP of this decision," NOPSEMA said in a statement 16 November.
The proposed drilling area in 100-2500m water depth, some 400km west of Port Lincoln and 300km soutwest of Seduna in South Australia. The area was covered by the Ceduna 3D seismic survey, which covered 12,100sq km across Exploration Permit for Petroleum (EPP) EPP 37, EPP 38, EPP 39 and EPP 40, operated by BP with partner Statoil.
According to BP, the project is scheduled to start in the summer 2016-2017, with each well taking between 45 and 170 days to drill.
The wells would be drilled using Diamond Offshore Drilling's dynamically positioned Moss CS60E Design 6th Generation semisubmersible mobile offshore drilling unit Ocean Great White, currently being built at Hyundai Heavy Industries' yard in South Korea.
Image: Diamond Offshore's Ocean Great White semisubmersible.
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