Santos continued to face heat over its oil and gas expansion plans at its 2025 Annual General Meeting (AGM) at the Adelaide Entertainment Centre.
Shareholders were greeted with a protest outside the AGM in support of a safe climate and Gomeroi Traditional Owners, who have raised grave concerns over Santos’ activities in Narrabri and the Pilliga forest in New South Wales.
“We shall not go down without a fight.”
Raymond Weatherall, Gomeroi man
“We as Gomeroi people have always opposed it [Narrabri Gas Project],” said Gomeroi man, Raymond Weatherall, calling out Santos’ “total disrespect in regards to the cultural heritage of the Gomeroi people.”
Emerging Elder from the Narrabri community, Deborah Briggs confronted the Santos board over its treatment of Gomeroi peoples and restrictions on her family’s ability to practice their spiritual beliefs and cultural practices within the Pilliga forest “due to the ongoing harassment, intimidation, and intrusion of our privacy due to Santos security, which includes their live feed video cameras set up all over our forest.”
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aQwsKD3XYuQyLtTNuz9jrBANzZbN1E26/view
[Video link to added on Monday]
Karra Kinchela, Gomeroi Traditional Owner, talked about the first-hand negative impacts of Santos’ gas project on Narrabri communities, and questioned whether the board have assessed the social, environmental, and health impacts the Narrabri Gas Project will have on Gomeroi people, and the Narrabri community.
Santos Chair, Keith Spence, responded by stating “From the visits we make, we know the impact we make on the communities in the areas we operate, and we are actually very proud of that. We are a positive force for good in these communities.”
These comments show a company utterly blind to the negative real-world impacts of its projects on local communities, as demonstrated by the sheer number of concerns raised by the many Gomeroi Traditional Owners present at the AGM.
Failed emissions management – carbon capture pipe dreams
The AGM also attracted an array of questions about Santos’s future emissions reduction plans and the reliability of carbon capture and storage (CCS) technology.
Shareholders pointed out that Santos’ continued oil and gas growth strategy is misaligned with limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius. Analysts have found that Santos is aligned with a catastrophic >3.2-degrees warming. A world in which deadlier heatwaves, extreme bushfires, crippling flooding and destructive cyclones would all be more common.
Market Forces analysis published ahead of the AGM demonstrated a strong rationale for investors to vote against the company’s inadequate Climate Transition Action Plan (CTAP) and the company’s directors standing for re-election.
The CTAP attracted 14% votes against, showing shareholders with approximately AU$1.5 billion worth of shares saw through Santos’ weak climate transition and emissions reduction plans.
At the AGM, Cari Lin, our Shareholder and Community Action Organiser, asked the board about the Chair’s omission of the true cost of CCS, and who will pay for the high price to capture, return, and store the carbon from Santos’ share of the Barossa gas project in Australia.
[Video link to added on Monday]
LNG growth plans pose a massive financial risk
Santos continues to pursue new LNG projects like Papua LNG even when the International Energy Agency has given grave warnings about the risks of such investment decisions. The IEA forecasts LNG supply capacity will exceed demand until 2040 even under high warming scenarios. This supply glut could result in “LNG being priced for some years at levels that makes it difficult for exporters to recover their costs”.
Market Forces Analyst, Munira Chowdhury, asked the board about Santos’ growth plans and its reliance on the Asian LNG market and future demand growth from emerging economies. Mr. Spence failed to answer which countries Santos is counting on for future LNG. This is likely because the growth markets of the Asia Pacific are increasingly seeming more uncertain.
Bangladesh has now placed all proposed LNG import and gas power projects under review. Vietnam has implemented a price cap on electricity generated from LNG. Pakistan is in the midst of an LNG glut following a massive solar boom in 2024 that saw it import enough solar panels to raise its total power capacity by a third.
Mr. Spence said, “We’re an Asian-facing organisation” and referenced current long-term contracts with Japan and South Korea. However, LNG use is expected to continue to decline in both these markets over the coming years, casting serious doubts on Santos’ gas demand forecasting.
The AGM also saw a presence of shareholders raising concerns over health, climate and the impact of Santos’ continued expansion of oil and gas plans on future generations.
Gomeroi Yinaar, Registered Nurse, and nursing union member, Michelle Cutmore said to Santos’ board and shareholders, “My ancestors have been here for tens of thousands of years, Santos has been here for only 71 years. We are not the problem. Santos takes from our Country. Where is Santos’ accountability around the harm to our communities and health?”