The Federal Court’s emphatic ruling that a gas pipeline crucial to Santos’ $5.8 billion Barossa gas project will not endanger Indigenous cultural heritage sites will strengthen the hand of the oil and gas giant’s chief executive, Kevin Gallagher, as he negotiates a potential merger with Woodside.

When The Australian Financial Review’s Rear Window column broke the news of talks between Woodside and Santos on December 7, concern about the regulatory threats to Barossa was at fever pitch; in the preceding six weeks, Santos’ share price had fallen almost 17 per cent.