Melbourne, Tuesday 3 February 2026 — US multinational oil and fuel company, ConocoPhillips, has been linked to its second main incident in simply six months after an oil rig toppled in Alaska, probably spilling 4,600 gallons of polluting gasoline and oil, and sparking recent warnings from Greenpeace Australia Pacific that the corporate can’t be trusted to drill off Victoria’s coast.
ConocoPhillips just lately accomplished section 1 of exploratory drilling offshore within the Otway Basin, an ecologically delicate space that features feeding grounds for the endangered Pygmy Blue Whales, and the migration route of the Southern Proper Whale.
The incident comes simply months after allegations ConocoPhillips and Santos coated up a methane fuel leak at an export hub in Darwin, elevating critical issues about security, transparency, and the corporate’s means to function with out inflicting environmental hurt.
The corporate’s personal environmental evaluation acknowledges {that a} spill within the Otway Basin might unfold so far as Jervis Bay in NSW and right down to the World Heritage-listed west coast of Tasmania.
Regardless of a mounting report of business failures, and fierce native opposition, each the Federal and Victorian Governments have opened up new areas off Victoria’s coast for fuel exploration.
Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Local weather and Power at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, mentioned: “In lower than six months, ConocoPhillips has been linked to a methane fuel leak in Darwin, and now a possible oil spill in Alaska. These fuel corporations hold insisting incidents are unlikely — but they hold taking place, at an enormous price to our communities, wildlife and atmosphere, which, within the Otways, have already been deeply impacted by the current bushfires.
“Are we actually going to maintain letting corporations with a observe report like this drill within the Otway Basin, the place their very own environmental assessments present a spill might impression fragile ecosystems and endangered marine life?
“Our governments have to get up and cease giving reckless corporations a free move to destroy the environment for revenue. Australia already has sufficient fuel. So long as multinationals like ConocoPhillips hold drilling for extra, our oceans, wildlife and communities will hold paying the value.”
Offshore fuel corporations have repeatedly put Victoria’s oceans in danger, leaving a path of incidents of their wake:
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Lucy Keller on 0491 135 308 or [email protected]
