Environmental awards and recognition
APPEA: Environment Award 2007—Category B (exploration companies)
INPEX was one of two companies judged worthy of the top environmental honour offered by the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) for 2007. The company won the award in Category B which is restricted to exploration companies.
At the award ceremony at the organisation’s annual conference in April 2008, Mark McCallum, APPEA’s Director, Industry Operations, congratulated INPEX on its "truly innovative and dedicated approach to ensuring as small an environmental footprint as possible" during its geotechnical and environmental drilling operations on the Maret Islands.
The geotechnical and environmental drilling operation required the drilling of 15 boreholes across both islands to depths ranging from 10 metres to 60 metres on undisturbed islands where INPEX was guaranteed neither long-term access, nor land tenure. The Maret Islands are an isolated site in the Kimberley, currently listed as unallocated Crown land and also subject to a Native Title claim. The islands therefore have identified traditional owners and associated heritage value. Through its ongoing scientific studies, INPEX was also well aware of the environmental value of the islands. In line with its Environmental Policy, INPEX saw it as an imperative to minimise any impacts on native flora and fauna, in particular those affecting turtle nesting beaches.
Clearly the environmental constraints called for an innovative approach to exploration activities and after some considerable internal discussion and research, the company’s technical experts devised the “air-portable geotechnical onshore drilling solution”. In essence, damage to the island environment would be minimised by transporting the necessary equipment by helicopter.
The equipment consisted of the following items:
- a Kawasaki BK117 light utility helicopter
- a specially modified drilling rig, designed to be dismantled and slung under the helicopter between the drilling sites
- a barge-mounted 18,000 litres per day desalination plant positioned offshore to supply water to the drilling sites
- several accommodation and transfer vessels for the workforce.
In addition, drilling sites were chosen in naturally occurring clearings away from areas of heritage significance, and boreholes were designed to allow for later use in groundwater and subterranean fauna monitoring.
INPEX also engaged the services of local traditional owners to work with the drilling team throughout the entire program.
In summary, the selected solution achieved the following:
- No disturbance to any areas of heritage significance
- Minimal vegetation disturbance of only six-tenths of a hectare, or less than 0.1 per cent of the total combined surface of the Islands. This compares very favourably with a traditional onshore drilling operation which would have impacted on more than 2 per cent of the combined surface of the islands.
- Facilitated the future reuse of boreholes, removing the need for further borehole drilling on the islands.
Golden Gecko
In addition to the APPEA award, INPEX was short-listed for the Golden Gecko Award (administered by Western Australia’s Department of Industry and Resources) for its geotechnical and environmental drilling operations on the Maret Islands.
The Golden Gecko Award is possibly the highest environmental accolade achievable in Western Australia’s resources industry. Being selected for the short list acknowledges INPEX’s commitment to best-practice environmental management.
