BP is abandoning plans for exploration drilling in the Great Australian Bight.

BP has issued a statement saying the project would struggle to get capital investment, as it has better upstream opportunities in its future.

The company is shifting its focus to projects that will pay off in the short-to-medium term.

Exploration and production managing director Claire Fitzpatrick said the decision was not related to a pending decision by an independent federal regulator.

“We have looked long and hard at our exploration plans for the Great Australian Bight, but in the current external environment, we will only pursue frontier exploration opportunities if they are competitive and aligned to our strategic goals,” she said.

Environmental groups have been outraged by the drilling project in the sensitive marine reserve. 

The most recent controversy was prompted by the release of disaster modelling, which showed the project could significantly damage South Australian tourism and aquaculture hotspots.

The decision means $1.4 billion worth of drilling, and the longer-term exploitation of anything they found, will now go elsewhere.

Advocates for the offshore project say it is bad news for South Australia.

Minister for resources, Matt Canavan, says the fact that environmental groups are celebrating the decision shows the “ugly side of green activism”.

“We think up to 100 workers will be impacted, and those workers I’m sure went to bed last night a little restless ... but we had other people in this country popping the champagne corks and celebrating that fact,” he said.

He said affected workers should raise their voices against highly-vocal conservationists.

“What does frustrate me is sometimes the workers in these industries, who tend to be fairly quiet, reticent types of people, aren’t the ones on the radio or in the media telling their stories,” he said.