Santos stalls Beetaloo project after greens brutal Barossa campaign

Australian gas is on the nose with shareholders as the impacts of green activism become clear. Read how their untruths hurt.

Shamed by a federal court judge for misleading Tiwi Islanders about the cultural impacts of the Barossa gas project, the Environment Defender’s Office’s activitism also stalled a significant onshore gas development.

Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher told an Energy Club lunch in Darwin on Friday that the EDO’s campaign against Barossa and the Narrabrai gas project in New South Wales had made the company reassess its Beetaloo Basin asset.

He warned unless there was a change to the regulations impacting gas project approvals, the sector in Australia could be under threat.

“We haven’t said a lot about our Beetaloo stuff in the past 12 months because we’ve been very distracted and focused on Barossa,” Mr Gallagher told about 400 guests at Mindil Beach Casino.

Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher (Pic: AAP/Brenton Edwards)

“But we’re very excited about the potential of Beetaloo, although you’ve got to map out the approvals process to get from where it is today to online.

“It’s a multi year project and I have to say development of resources in Australia is a long haul. It’s tough. We’re still trying to get our project in Narrabri approved but it keeps getting cycled back into the next challenge and the next challenge.

“Until we tighten up the (regulations) until approval means approval, it’s very difficult to see (investment). Would I be throwing a lot of capital into the Beetaloo right now? Not on your Nellie because I don’t know when I’m ever going to get a return on it.

“So I need to be able to map that and to understand when I can get an outcome. Then we'll start spending the money because I can never do that again, after what we’ve just experienced on the Barossa. The shareholders would run me out of town.

“It’s their money I’m spending, it’s not my money, and so we need to tell them we’ll spend it here and it comes online here. Otherwise they say ‘could you spend it in PNG or can you spend it in Alaska because we know when we approve a project it’s going to come online’.

“I think we will sort that stuff out in Australia, but it’s going to take a concerted effort at state, territory and federal levels before we build that confidence.”

Mr Gallagher said climate activism had smashed confidence in the energy sector.

“You can see that exploration spending in Australia is at its lowest and it’s dying. Exploration is going offshore,” he said.

“Universities are shutting down their petroleum schools so soon we won’t even have the qualified people in Australia to support this industry.

“That’s scary because we’re a resources country and I’m happy to take a bet in 20 years’ time we’re still a resources country.”

Santos exploration tenures in the eastern Beetaloo Basin are a joint venture with Tamboran resources.

In January Federal Court judge Natalie Charlesworth delivered a stunning verdict condemning the campaign activism of green groups after she identified deceptions in their dealings with Tiwi Islanders about the Barossa.

“The material supports an inference that Indigenous instructions have been distorted and manipulated before being presented to this Court via an expert report, and I so find,” she said in her judgement.