Indigenous culture concerns again hit Santos’ $6.1b Barossa gas project

Indigenous heritage concerns have again hit Santos’s flagship Barossa gas project north of Darwin after the offshore regulator effectively halted construction of a 262-kilometre-long offshore pipeline just weeks before it was to start.

Offshore environment regulator NOPSEMA directed Santos on January 13 to engage independent experts to assess if there are any sites along the pipeline route that may have spiritual or cultural importance to Indigenous people and then if necessary adjust its plans.

Santos has undertaken not to start pipeline construction until this is done, according to the NOPSEMA direction made public on Monday that in itself does not forbid construction to go ahead.

Drilling in the Barossa gas field north of Darwin stopped in early October after Tiwi Islands traditional owner Dennis Tipaklippa won a Federal Court case over not being consulted when Santos prepared an environment plan for submission to NOPSEMA.

The latest setback to Santos’ flagship project comes at a sensitive time as a loan from the Korea Trade Insurance Corporation to SK to support its investment in 37.5 per cent of Barossa is understood to need to be renewed by Thursday. The corporation and the Export-Import Bank of Korea which together loaned $US330 million ($470 million) to SK already have concerns about the high level of emissions the project will produce due to the carbon dioxide in the reservoir.

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Santos was asked if the regulator’s action would delay the start-up of Barossa planned for the first half of 2025 and did not respond.

In December Santos planned for the specialised vessels required to lay the pipeline on the seabed to arrive in Darwin in late January to commence five to six months of work. The two vessels owned by Dutch company Allseas are now moored off Singapore according to vessel monitoring site MarineTraffic.

NOPSEMA inspectors reviewed Santos’ environment plan for the pipeline installation “at short notice” in late December, according to the direction, and identified more information was required about risks to underwater cultural heritage balance along the pipeline route that goes within seven kilometres of the Tiwi Islands.