Adelaide Refinery

Mobil is working closely with the South Australian Government, the Environment Protection Authority (EPA), other government departments and agencies as well as the Onkaparinga City Council, to ensure we take every care to minimise the impact of the project on our neighbours and avoid any risk to the surrounding community and the environment.

Regular updates on activity are provided to the adjacent O’Sullivan Beach community, both at community meetings and directly via the Neighbourhood Watch newsletter.

If you have any queries about the Adelaide Refinery or would like more information, please contact us.

Remediation

Mobil is responsible for assessing the environmental condition of the former Adelaide Refinery site and subsequently remediating it to a standard that is suitable for future use. We entered into a Voluntary Site Contamination Assessment Proposal with the EPA under which we have committed to carry out certain environmental assessment and remediation works, primarily focused on the boundaries of the refinery site.

After operations ceased in 2003, Mobil engaged an SA EPA-accredited Site Environmental Auditor to oversee regular environmental assessments of the refinery site and ensure there were no impacts offsite, such as into Gulf St Vincent. We continue to work cooperatively with the Auditor and the EPA on all aspects related to the environmental condition and assessment of the site. Mobil’s environmental consultants conduct six-monthly sampling and analysis of some 150 groundwater wells around the site.

Sufficiently remediating the site to a standard suitable for future industrial use is likely to take up to 10 years.

Port Stanvac wharf

The industrial Port Stanvac wharf at the former Adelaide Refinery site has been removed and Mobil is finalising remediation of the foreshore in order to be able to hand the area back to the South Australian government.

Following commitment by the South Australian Government in late 2015, Mobil has agreed to fund upgrade works estimated at over $5 million so that the 215-metre rock groyne that formed part of the wharf structure can be retained for future use.

Mobil is working closely with South Australian Government on the next steps for the project.

To ensure public safety, access to the refinery site and area surrounding the former wharf is necessarily restricted.  Marine area restrictions are established and enforced by the South Australian Government, as outlined in the exclusion zone notice and associated published Regulations.

Foreshore access

Mobil continues to work with the South Australian Environment Protection Authority (SA EPA) to complete our environmental investigations and reporting for the former Adelaide Refinery site.

In 2019 our environmental investigation works in the foreshore area were finalized and reported to a Site Contamination Auditor (accredited by the EPA) for evaluation. The Auditor then prepared a Site Contamination Audit Report which confirmed that the foreshore land is suitable for open space / recreational use.

The report has now been submitted to SA EPA. SA EPA’s acceptance of the report is an important milestone in the process of handing back the foreshore land to the South Australian Department for Infrastructure and Transport.

You can access a summary of the Site Contamination Audit Report below. If you would like to view the complete document, please email us at communityANZ@exxonmobil.com