By Rhiannon Hoyle


An Australian court on Friday rejected an appeal by Santos Ltd. to overturn a decision that halted drilling at a natural-gas project off the coast of the Tiwi Islands, near Darwin.

In September, a judge threw out a regulator's approval of Santos's environmental plan to drill for natural gas in the Barossa gas field after an indigenous leader on the remote islands argued Santos didn't properly consult his clan on its impact.

On Friday, a ruling from the full Federal Court upheld the legal victory by Dennis Tipakalippa, in a case that could have wide-ranging implications for how energy and mining companies approach negotiations with indigenous groups.

Santos had argued it consulted the Tiwi Land Council, a statutory body representing all eight clans of Tiwi people, and held in-person meetings with locals. But Mr. Tipakalippa and other members of his clan, which view the sea near the islands as sacred, said Santos should have had more direct communications with the clan.

When Santos decided to move forward with the project in March 2021, it called the Barossa project one of the lowest-cost liquefied natural gas projects in the world and said it would be its biggest investment in Australia's oil-and-gas sector since 2012. It was targeting first production in the first half of 2025.


Write to Rhiannon Hoyle at rhiannon.hoyle@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

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