At least three dead dolphins were found near the oil spill.
In March 2022 about 25,000 litres of oil leaked from a hose Santos used to load a tanker moored off its Varanus Island gas processing facility,75 kilometres from WA’s Pilbara coast.
The spill was not made public by either Santos or the WA safety regulator and when revealed a month later by this masthead a Santos spokeswoman said it was a“minor spill” with “negligible” environmental impact.
An unnamed whistleblower whose statement and photographs were tabled by Senator David Pocock at a Senate committee hearing on Thursday,said dead dolphins,including a pup,were found floating in the centre of the oil slick.
“Tens of thousands of litres of oil in the ocean,dead dolphins and sea snakes,” they said.
“How was this negligible?”
The oil leaked through a tear in a loading hose connected to the tanker.
Santos did not fly environment experts to the remote island until a week after the spill,according to the statement,so had no basis to determine what the impact was.
“I felt strongly that Santos’ comment was baseless,designed to mislead and avoid accountability,” they said.