Indigenous Australians sue South Korea over Barossa gas financing
Indigenous Australians have filed a South Korean lawsuit to block financing for Santos's Barossa gas field development off Northern Territory waters, according to a Reuters report.
The plaintiffs will sue 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). The case is being lodged on behalf of First Australians from the Tiwi Islands and Larrakia traditional communities.
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The complainants will argue that an injunction should be granted as proper consultations were not held with Indigenous communities. Sea life crucial to the islanders' way of life could also be harmed by one of the pipelines to Barossa, they say.
"By taking the South Korean government to court to stop this gas project, we are protecting our family and our land," said Tiwi traditional owner Daniel Munkara, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
K-Sure refused to say whether it would offer finance to Barossa, but pointed to its sustainability policy which "supports projects only in line with international standards."
Barossa's gas supplies are intended to extend the life of Santos's 3.7 mn metric tons/year Darwin LNG facility in the Northern Territory. The $3.6bn investment programme got underway with the project's final investment decision last March, with first gas due in 2025,
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.