ExxonMobil dumps Bass Strait sale after Woodside debacle and warning from Canberra

ExxonMobil abandoned the sale of its Bass Strait operation just two weeks after the Australian Government told the US oil major it would be liable for decommissioning its 50-year-old operation if a new owner failed to commit to proper decommissioning.

Resources Minister Keith Pitt told ExxonMobil chief executive Darren Woods in November 2020 that he would crackdown on the sale of offshore oil and gas assets, a month before the policy change was made public.

In the letter obtained by Boiling Cold after a freedom of information request (full letter below) Pitt laid out his expectations of ExxonMobil including that any new owner must have the financial and technical capacity to decommission the ageing Bass Strait facilities.

Pitt also…