The Federal Court of Australia has overturned a drilling approval awarded by the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority (NOPSEMA) for the Barossa gas field, developed by Santos near islands off the northern Australia coastline. The company plans to appeal the ruling.
In March 2021, Santos has taken a final investment decision for the US$3.6bn project, which comprises a floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit, subsea production wells, supporting subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline. It is currently 46% complete.
The Barossa field is expected to start supplying gas to the 3.7 Mt/year Darwin LNG plant in 2025. The terminal will stop receiving gas supply from the Bayu Undan field later in 2022 after it ceases production.