Santos dodges prosecution over oil spill

Issue 
Santos is being monitored closely by anti-fracking activists, but not the Queensland ALP government.

The Queensland government did not prosecute gas company Santos over that state's third largest oil spill despite the Department of Environment saying it had sufficient evidence, according to documents obtained by the Wilderness Society.

About 250,000 litres of crude oil was spilled at Santos's Zeus oil field in the Cooper Creek floodplain south of Windorah in May 2013.

Santos took five days to stop the spill largely because it did not have contingency plans or experts in place and had to fly in an expert team from the United States.

The Queensland government did not prosecute gas company Santos over that state's third largest oil spill despite the Department of Environment saying it had sufficient evidence, according to documents obtained by the Wilderness Society.

About 250,000 litres of crude oil was spilled at Santos's Zeus oil field in the Cooper Creek floodplain south of Windorah in May 2013.

Santos took five days to stop the spill largely because it did not have contingency plans or experts in place and had to fly in an expert team from the United States.

Santos could have been hit with a $2 million fine for its lack of risk management, but the documents show Santos asked the Newman L-NP government not to take any legal action.

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