An Australian tribunal has ruled that a multi-billion gas project by Santos in New South Wales can proceed as energy and gas security outweighs potential damages to climate and an Indigenous heritage site.
Santos, one of Australia’s top energy firms, has proposed the US$2.3-billion (AUS$3.6 billion) Narrabri Gas Project, a coal-seam gas project in the northwest of New South Wales that overlaps with cultural heritage sites of the indigenous Gomeroi people.
Santos proposed the project a decade ago and was granted the lease to drill more than 800 wells. But the company has been fighting in courts for its plans to drill in the area, as local people have appealed the leases, claiming native title rights—a legal doctrine in Australia recognizing Indigenous rights to certain parcels of land.
Santos says that the Narrabri Gas Project is 100% committed to the domestic market and could supply up to 50% of New South Wales’ natural gas needs.
“Gas produced close to market will always have a cost advantage over gas imported from other states or overseas and will help to put downward pressure on domestic gas and energy prices for NSW customers,” Santos said last year.
In the years-long legal saga, the National Native Title Tribunal acknowledged on Monday that while the Narrabri Gas Project could be detrimental to climate, it would also be an “important benefit” for the public and the Gomeroi people.
“Weighing the public interest evidence, including the evidence addressing environmental matters, the panel has found the project offers a net public benefit,” the tribunal said in the ruling, as carried by Reuters.
Energy companies operating in Australia are looking to boost domestic gas output as supply in major consuming areas is often strained at peak demand periods.
Australia’s east coast could see shortages of natural gas as early as in 2027 unless more supply is made available soon, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) said in a report last year, adding another warning about the domestic market of one of the world’s biggest LNG exporters.
By Tsvetana Paraskova for Oilprice.com
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