After losing an appeal to restart drilling on its Barossa gas project, Santos maintains it will go ahead as planned. But the ruling has cast uncertainty over the future of similar projects.
abc.net.au/news/nt-explainer-santos-federal-court-loss-barossa-gas/101730568Gas company Santos lost a landmark legal battle this week, with its appeal over the finding against its $4.7 billion Barossa gas project north of the Tiwi IslandsThe ruling is a major victory for traditional owners, who argued they weren't consulted about the company's plans to drill for gas and pipe it through Tiwi sea country to Darwin for export.
"We would not, as Santos urged, confine 'interests' to 'legal interests' and reject the proposition that the connection of traditional owners with sea country cannot be an interest for the purposes of [the] regulation. They pointed to long-standing consultation requirements under native title law, where people holding communal interests are consulted "in a workable manner".
Greens senator for Western Australia, Dorinda Cox said all recent approvals of similar projects by NOPSEMA should be reviewed "to ensure such glaring omissions haven't been swept under the rug".Bruce Robertson, a financial energy analyst at the Institute for Energy, Economics and Financial Analysis , said the ruling would influence investor confidence in the project, as well as others on the Australia's north-west shelf.
"It will take more time to find the right people and to consult with them, especially in remote areas like the Kimberley and Tiwi Islands, and the Beetaloo," he said.Australia's peak body for the oil and gas industry said that meant "increasing approvals uncertainty" for investors. "Santos has always sought to meet its consultation responsibilities and is continuing the process of revising the drilling environment plan to address the matters contained in the judgement," the spokesperson said.The spokesperson also said the company doesn't expect "any material cost or schedule impact" from the court proceedings.
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