Taxpayers Face $500M Chevron Cleanup Bill Western Australia

Australian taxpayers face a bill exceeding $500 million to clean up Chevron's aging oil operations on Barrow Island, Western Australia, following the cessation of production after nearly 60 years. This liability arises from a 1985 royalty agreement requiring the federal and state governments to reimburse Chevron and its partners for 40% of the initial four years of decommissioning costs, which are estimated to surpass $2.3 billion. Chevron and its partners ExxonMobil and Santos have paid over $1 billion in royalties during the operation, but under the agreement, governments must refund a significant portion of the cleanup expenses, split 75% federal and 25% state. Documents obtained through freedom of information requests reveal government departments were initially unaware of the full scale of the cleanup costs, only calculating their liabilities after media reports highlighted the issue. The cleanup involves capping around 900 oil wells and rehabilitating the island's nature reserve, with the WA government estimating its share of the cost at about $129 million. Investigations and reports have criticized Chevron for benefiting financially while leaving taxpayers responsible for substantial environmental remediation costs.