Santos to resume Barossa gas pipeline construction after court win

Australian energy major Santos has been permitted to continue work on laying an underwater pipeline for its $5.7bn Barossa gas project in the Timor Sea.

The company won a legal battle against a group of Tiwi Islands elders who argued that laying the pipeline would impact submerged Tiwi cultural heritage, creating a new environmental risk.

In November, Santos was given an interim injunction by the Federal Court of Australia to prevent the company from continuing pipelaying work on the project.

This new ruling means that Santos can continue construction of its pipeline, which will ultimately be used to pipe gas to Darwin before being shipped as LNG to South Korea and Japan.

In her ruling, Justice Natalie Charlesworth told the court there was disagreement among relevant Tiwi Islanders regarding the heritage sites and stated that she was not satisfied with the proof provided that the pipeline might damage potential cultural heritage sites along the sea floor, labelling it a “negligible chance.”

The man leading the charge against Santos, Simon Munkara, said that the outcome was very disappointing as he intended to protect his “Sea Country.”

Santos welcomed the decision of the Federal Court and said in a statement that it would continue the pipelaying activities on the Barossa project as per the ruling and the environmental plan currently in force.

The Santos-operated Barossa Gas Project is an offshore gas and condensate project that proposes to provide a new source of gas to the existing Darwin LNG facility in the Northern Territory.

Natural gas would be extracted from the Barossa field some 285 kilometres offshore from Darwin, and transported via gas pipeline to the existing facility, with first gas targeted for 2025.

Project infrastructure will comprise an FPSO facility, a subsea production system, supporting in-field subsea infrastructure, and the pipeline system. Up to eight subsea wells are planned to be drilled in the Barossa field – six wells from three drill centres, with contingency plans for an additional two wells.