Australian oil project halted by Aboriginal protest

Kred Enterprises on Friday said Nyikina Mangala, traditional owners of the land on which it had been prospecting for oil, had demanded a stop to the operations by the Perth-based company, at the project sit around 100 km east of Broome in Western Australia's Kimberley region.

Kred Enterprises, which had begun extended production testing in March, is an Aboriginal Charitable Trust in Australia that aims to build and sustain independent Aboriginal economic development.

It said, the company, Buru had bulldozed through sand dunes in an exclusion zone, destroying an Aboriginal archaeological site and disturbed important objects.

According to Kred chief executive, Wayne Bergmann, traditional owner of Nyikina Mangala, former head of the Kimberley Land Council, a complaint had been lodged with the Department of Indigenous Affairs along with a request for a full investigation.

According to Buru executive director Eric Streitberg, the company had been preparing for a geophysical survey but halted operations in the area, as soon the concerns were brought to its notice on Thursday.

He added, the company would not conduct any further work in the area until all investigations were complete.