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Santos has withdrawn applications for government approval of a pipeline to its $4.7bn Barossa gas project near the Tiwi Islands and plans to rework and resubmit them because of fears within the company that they might not withstand legal challenge in their current state.
This week the company committed to spending $458m on the pipeline, which is to link the Barossa field, 265km north-west of Darwin, with its existing gas liquefaction plant at Wickham Point, in Darwin’s harbour.
However, three weeks ago, on 12 August, Santos withdrew applications it had on foot for two of the three government approvals required for the pipeline to go ahead – one with offshore oil and gas industry regulator the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority and the other with the federal environment department under the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act.
The third application, with the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority, remains on foot but has been suspended until Santos lodges a new EPBC Act application.
A Santos spokesperson said that “both documents have been withdrawn and are to be resubmitted soon as a single referral under the EPBC Act”. Subject to getting the fresh approvals, the company plans to start laying pipe next year.
Santos did not answer questions about why the decision had been made.
However, it is understood that executives were concerned that the applications might be vulnerable to legal action over issues including whether it has adequately documented consultations with interested parties that it was required to undertake as part of the process.
The company is already in the federal court fighting allegations it failed to properly consult a group of Tiwi Islanders over a part of the project that is covered by a separate Nopsema approval, the drilling of eight wells at the Barossa field.
Launching the lawsuit last June, Munupi senior lawman Dennis Tipakalippa said: “Santos say they did consultation for this drilling project, but no one spoke to me as a traditional owner and senior lawman for the Munupi clan,” he said.
During hearings last week, a marine ranger told the court the project could threaten a vulnerable turtle species and kill fish upon which the islanders depend.
Dina Hopstad Rui, the campaigns director at activist group Jubilee Australia, said it appeared that “Santos has conceded it cuts corners”.
“Whether Santos submits a new pipeline proposal or not, the environmental movement will go through it line by line,” she said.
The Barossa field is a joint venture between Santos, which is also the operator, and Korean energy company SK E&S.
American oil and gas group ConocoPhillips was previously part of the joint venture and ran the project but sold out to Santos in 2020.
ConocoPhillips had planned to build a spur line from the Barossa field to an existing pipeline to Darwin from another gasfield in the Timor Sea, Bayu-Undan, which is nearly tapped out.
However, when Santos took over the project it decided instead to use an existing pipeline to pump carbon dioxide into the Bayu-Undan field as part of a carbon capture and storage project.
This means that in order to get gas from Barossa to Darwin, Santos needs to build a new pipeline alongside the southern portion of the existing one.
About 100km of the proposed pipeline is in NT waters and about 20km is in commonwealth waters.
The company retains approval for the Barossa project as a whole, which it obtained in 2018, but needs separate approvals for variations on the overarching plan, such as the pipeline and drilling.
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