Nopsema has outlined the state of play in the nation’s decommissioning efforts after posting its ‘Australia's Offshore Energy Industry Performance Report 2025’ on its website.

Sue McCarrey, CEO of Australia’s offshore regulator, said in the report’s foreword that decommissioning and the management of redundant wells continue to be a major focus for the industry.

The report also charts significant progress made in recent years.

In the last five years, 280 wells have been plugged and abandoned, and there are currently 489 non-operational wells, according to the report.

Between 2021 and 2025, 17 environment plans for decommissioning were also approved.

Out of 30 production systems that are no longer producing, seven have been decommissioned to an accepted end-state, and eight have decommissioning execution works underway.

“As offshore assets age, decommissioning activity has increased and many wells are now non-operational,” McCarrey noted.

Addressing these redundant wells is a national priority, but a highly complex task, according to McCarrey.

“Plug and abandonment activity has accelerated, but there remains a clear expectation that decommissioning obligations are met in a timely and effective manner.”

As detailed in Nopsema’s Decommissioning Compliance Strategy 2024-2029, it is expected that non-producing wells for a facility that has reached end of life, are plugged and abandoned within three years of production ceasing and no later than 10 years after being suspended if the facility is still producing.

The report also notes that industry effort is shifting from drilling of new wells to late-life obligations, with well abandonment increasing notably in recent years while spudding continues to fall – consistent with an accelerating transition to decommissioning activities.

The overall number of registered wells on titles is declining, it adds, with a sustained fall since 2020.