Financial statements of 8 oil and gas companies under ASIC review

ASIC is undertaking eight desktop audits on how eight oil and gas companies disclosed decommissioning liabilities in their financial statements.

“We have identified a number of financial reports that we'll focus on. The financial reports that we've identified [are] Beach Energy, Amplitude, Strike Energy, Horizon Oil, Carnarvon Energy, Q Energy, Woodside, and Santos,” ASIC commissioner Kate O’Rourke said.

This review is expected to be released in October 2027, ASIC told the Senate Economics Legislation Committee on 29 October.

O’Rourke said that one of the commission’s priorities in its financial reporting audits is the disclosure of provisions for restoration and decommissioning.

She confirmed that Beach Energy, Amplitude, Strike Energy, Horizon Oil, Carnarvon Energy, and Q Energy have filed their 30 June financial statements for the 2025–26 year, with ASIC to receive Woodside and Santos’s by the calendar end.

“The report finds that the overall quality of disclosure relating to asset retirement or decommissioning obligations is poor. Australian companies only provide about 19 per cent of the relevant information, and the report recommends that Australia conduct a thematic review like that undertaken by the UK Financial Reporting Council,” Greens Senator Vanessa Bleyer said at the hearing.

Decommissioning activities and their associated costs are expected to increase significantly in the next few years, according to the ATO.

An ATO report estimated total decommissioning liabilities at approximately A$43.6 billion, in real 2025 dollars, with a potential range of A$21 billion to A$87 billion, and stated that over half of these costs will be incurred before 2040.

Speaking with Accounting Times, Carnarvon Energy chief executive Phil Huizenga said: “Carnarvon welcomes ASIC’s focus on this area. Our Bedout Sub-basin assets are at pre-development stage, with no final investment decision taken, so there is currently no present obligation for decommissioning and no provision is required under the accounting standards.”

“Once relevant project approvals are in place, and project development commences, Carnarvon will recognise and report decommissioning obligations for its share of joint venture projects, in line with those standards.”

While Woodside declined to provide comment, the other oil and energy companies did not respond when Accounting Times reached out for comment.

Environmental advocacy group The Wilderness Society made submissions to the ASIC alleging that Beach and Amplitude understated decommissioning liabilities in their 2025 financial statements, in early 2026.

Amanda Holly, manager of Corporate Advocacy and Engagement at the Wilderness Society, said: “This is a landmark moment. For the first time, Australia’s corporate regulator is going through the books of Santos, Woodside, Beach Energy and five other oil and gas companies to find out whether they’re telling the truth about what it will cost to clean up their mess.

“There is over $60 billion worth of oil and gas infrastructure sitting off Australia’s coastline that has to be cleaned up. Right now, too many companies are lowballing that bill in their accounts, and if they can’t pay when the time comes, it could land on taxpayers,” Holly said.

“We expect this review to force transparent and accurate reporting across the entire sector. Investors deserve the truth, the public deserves protection, and our oceans deserve better than to become a dumping ground for toxic, rusting fossil fuel infrastructure,” she said.