- Santos (ASX:STO) has won a court case launched against it by Traditional Owners
- The case related to the energy major’s NT-based offshore Barossa gas project
- The Federal Court has ruled the project won’t harm Indigenous cultural heritage assets
- Shares last traded at $7.72
Santos (ASX:STO) shares immediately jumped today as the Federal Court ruled the company’s Barossa gas project won’t harm Indigenous cultural heritage sites.
Traditional Owners had launched a court case against Santos’s upcoming flagship project valued at more than $5 billion.
It has effectively been in project purgatory since 2022 – but today’s decision finally allows it to get rolling on.
Worth noting is that the NT government is strongly in support of the project.
After a positive final investment decision (FID) was reached in March of 2021, the NT government outlined its support, highlighting it is to be the NT’s next biggest gas project after INPEX built out the Ichthys play.
This stance has only been ratified by Justice Natalie Charlesworth‘s decision today.
Where is Barossa and who is concerned?
Located in the NT and to be an offshore gas project upon completion, shareholders had been closely watching the developments.
Santos was punished by shareholders in late 2023 when it was revealed the company had failed in its duties to consult Indigenous landowners.
A group of Tiwi Islanders – referring to Australia’s Tiwi Islands – are satisfied the Barossa project will damage the oceanic country that proponents view as part of their cultural history.
The case was brought against Santos via the Environmental Defenders’ Office (EDO), a taxpayer-funded green procedural law NGO.
Merger looms in background
In the background of all this is a proposed merger between Woodside (ASX:WDS) and Santos.
Citi analysts have previously recommended that Santos shareholders would likely come out of any merger between the two better off than Woodside holders.
Still to be seen is whether the merger will go through.
Woodside, which merged with BHP in recent history, now wants to move on Santos – further expanding the size of Woodside, one of the largest energy companies in the world.
Some analysts have forecast that the merger would see production levels of gas fall due to the age of key assets.
Still, LNG production would increase to 23 million tonnes in 2028, according to analysts at Jarden Energy.
Santos shares last traded at $7.72.