“This is a step our clients take very seriously,but given the importance of the cultural heritage at risk,it is a step they feel they must take,” Leiken said.
The move on Monday under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection Act comes a year after Santos’ controversial high-emissions gas export project was rocked by a federal court direction tostop drilling for gas due to insufficient consultation with Tiwi Islanders.
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The decision,confirmed on appeal three months later,left an expensive drilling rig idle ever since,with industry observers doubting Santos’ claim that the project would be completed on schedule.
The drilling setback was followed in January by the offshore regulator NOPSEMA directing Santos to check the pipeline route from the Barossa field to Darwin for Indigenous heritage concerns.
Santos told the regulator on October 4 it was ready to resume pipeline installation.