Checklist · Energy, Resources & Mining
Offshore decommissioning principles checklist
The decommissioning principles NOPSEMA states for titleholders in Commonwealth waters: responsibility, early planning, completion before the title ends, and the test for an alternative to full removal.
- Kind
- Checklist. Steps or checks to work through and tick off.
- Where it applies
- Australia
- AI use
- Yellow You and the tool draft together, with you directing. You check every statement you rely on.
- Law stated as at
- 22 October 2026
- Status
- Maintained. Checked on 22 October 2026 against the authority it cites, for Australia.
- Version
- 1
- Source
- Written for this library
When to use it
Use when an offshore petroleum titleholder is planning the end of a facility or a well in NOPSEMA's jurisdiction. It records the principles on the decommissioning page. It does not draft an environment plan.
Used for these tasks
- Map decommissioning obligations and financial-assurance gaps
- Map offshore or onshore licence conditions and safety-case obligations
Each task page says how far AI may help with the task and what the lawyer must review.
How AI may be used
AI may list infrastructure against the title expiry and the principles on the NOPSEMA page; the lawyer decides whether an environment plan and a removal plan meet the current regulations.
AI may
- Build a table of infrastructure, title, and title-end date from documents already on the file
- Mark whether full removal or an alternative is proposed
- Record that the NOPTA guidelines are the document the page points to and have not yet been read
AI must not
- Must not conclude that an alternative to full removal delivers an equal or better environmental outcome
- Must not draft an environment plan, a safety case, or a well-operations plan
- Must not state a financial-assurance amount
The lawyer checks
- Each item of infrastructure has a titleholder and a plan to finish decommissioning before the title ends
- Any alternative to full removal is assessed against equal or better environmental outcomes and against the OPGGS Act and regulations, including well integrity and safety
- The NOPTA Offshore Petroleum: Decommissioning Guidelines, which the page cites, are read before the plan is settled
- Permissioning documents are identified for NOPSEMA assessment rather than assumed from this checklist
Method: how the Green, Yellow and Red levels are decided. This is guidance for planning, not legal advice.
Read the full text
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- add it to your firm’s knowledge base, so colleagues can find it;
- let the AI tools you connect read it from that knowledge base.
The summary, the law it rests on and the AI-use guidance above stay public. Privacy.
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