The international conglomerate behind plans for the largest seismic testing survey in Australian history has abandoned the endeavour with a three-line email. 

Energy data company TGS and Norwegian oilfield services company SLB (formerly known as Schlumberger), have spent more than 15 months putting together a plan to explore the Otway Basin, in south-west Victoria, for gas. 

It was a plan that was met with a barrage of opposition from communities across the coast and had been sent back for revision twice by Australia's gas regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA).

Then, just days before the conglomerate was set to resubmit part of its exploration proposal to NOPSEMA, a three-line email was sent to media and stakeholders. 

"With competing global priorities, TGS have decided not to proceed with the Otway 3D Multi-client Marine Seismic Survey Environment Plan at this time," the statement read. 

"We have notified NOPSEMA of this decision, withdrawing the current Environment Plan from NOPSEMA assessment."

The statement ended with a brief thanks and a note that the corresponding email address would be shut down. 

In three lines of text, months worth of campaigning came to an end. 

People power

The now withdrawn application from TGS and SLB sought permission to explore the ocean for oil and gas under a Special Prospecting Authority (SPA) permit — a licence that allows for seismic testing but no drilling.

Australian Marine Conservation Society oil and gas campaign lead Louise Morris calls these "cowboy licences for cowboy operators" because they are not subject to the same approvals processes as other exploration titles, plus they are cheaper and usually quicker to obtain. 

While there are ongoing efforts to abolish the existence of SPAs, in the meantime coastal communities opposed to seismic testing are forced to push back against each individual application. 

NOPSEMA has only rejected four seismic survey applications since 2012, so environmental campaigners say their goal is to make obtaining a permit so difficult for proponents that they withdraw applications on their own. 

This is often done by forcing the regulator's hand in requiring revisions to environmental plans. 

With more than 30,000 submissions made on the TGS proposal and hundreds of people attending protests across Victoria's south-west coast, federal member for Corangamite Libby Coker called the decision to withdraw the application a "testament" to community advocacy. 

"This is coastal communities working together to protect our marine environment."

The future of oil and gas exploration

Environmental campaigners say they are now turning their sights to a second SPA permit application for seismic testing in waters spanning the coast from near Portland to Port Campbell — which is still with NOPSEMA. 

They say they will also focus on combating new gas exploration efforts more broadly and call on the federal government to start winding down gas exploration and production in Australia.

However, the federal government remains steadfast that gas is an important part of the nation's energy mix. 

"People who say gas is the answer are wrong, and people who say gas has no role to play, are wrong," Energy Minister Chris Bowen told ABC Statewide Drive. 

"And I understand people's concerns around gas, our policy is to support gas as a peaking and firming mechanism for renewable."

Surfers stoked

The withdrawal announcement arrived the same day the federal and state governments were on the media trail to champion the first feasibility licence for the Southern Ocean offshore wind zone.

The zone was declared in March, with plans underway for an offshore farm in waters between Warrnambool and Port Fairy. 

The surfing community was steadfast in its opposition against seismic testing, carrying out numerous paddle outs and protests across the south-west coast. 

But Surfers for Climate chief executive Josh Kirkman said when done well, offshore wind farms posed no such problems. 

"Surfers [are] deeply connected to the ocean," he said. 

"We know that the protection of highly sensitive ecological areas, such as the Bonney Upwelling and whale and bird migration paths, are of the highest priority to local people. 

"We want to see this community concern addressed in the feasibility studies and in the government's assessment of these studies."