South Korea court rejects case against Barossa project: Press
A South Korean court has dismissed a lawsuit by a group of Indigenous Australians to block financing for Santos's Barossa gas field development off Northern Territory waters, Reuters reported on May 23.
The plaintiffs sued South Korea's government for over $700mn in export loans and guarantees from Export-Import Bank of Korea (KEXIM) and Korea Trade Insurance Corp (K-Sure).
|
Advertisement: The National Gas Company of Trinidad and Tobago Limited (NGC) NGC’s HSSE strategy is reflective and supportive of the organisational vision to become a leader in the global energy business. |
The case was lodged on behalf of First Australians from the Tiwi Islands and Larrakia traditional communities. The Seoul Central District Court on May 20 dismissed the application to block loans to the project, Reuters reported citing court's record.
The Barossa gas and condensate project to backfill Darwin LNG was 33% complete at the end of March and remains on schedule and budget for the first production in the first half of 2025, Santos said end April.
Santos on April 29 announced the completion of the sale of a 12.5% interest in the Barossa project to Japan’s Jera following the completion of all regulatory approvals. Cash proceeds to Santos at completion were $327mn. Santos sanctioned the $3.6bn project in March 2021.
The field is located in Australian waters off the Northern Territory. The Barossa development will comprise a floating production, storage and offloading vessel, subsea production wells, supporting subsea infrastructure and a gas export pipeline tied into the existing Bayu-Undan to Darwin LNG pipeline.
Santos says Barossa is one of the world's "lowest cost" new LNG supply projects and will give it a competitive advantage in tight LNG markets. It is forecasting 2P commercialised gas reserves of around 380mn barrels of oil equivalent and has signed an MoU with East Timor to use its mature Baya Undan field in the Timor Sea for carbon capture and storage.