The Barossa project is about to start shipping gas to the world-class LNG plant. 

The Darwin Life Extension project created 600 jobs during construction and will extend the life of Darwin LNG by about 20 years. 

“Barossa is a symbol of our commitment to the Northern Territory and to the region,” says Santos Executive Vice President WA, NT and Timor-Leste Vince Santostefano. 

All workers at the plant are Territorians. 

“If you work here, you need to live here,” says Mr Santostefano. 

Darwin LNG operations generate about $100 million a year in supply and service opportunities for Territory businesses. 

Every four years, when Darwin LNG undergoes major maintenance, it brings 600 jobs to town and injects up to $50 million into the Territory economy. 

Santos has invested about $5 billion into the Barossa LNG project. 

Darwin LNG creates 350 long-term operations, maintenance and support jobs, set to deliver about $2.5 billion in wages, supply and service purchases to Territorians over a period of 20 years. 

Santos’ support for the Territory goes beyond economics. 

More than 63 per cent of Santos trainees and apprentices in the NT identify as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander – and 33 per cent are female. 

Santos runs a raft of programs and early-career pathways to ensure that its projects in the Top End create opportunities that will benefit future generations. 

Since the inaugural intake of Santos’ DLNG Operator Traineeship Program in 2010, about 50 Territorians have gained a nationally recognised qualification and on-the-job training at Darwin LNG. 

Other programs run through the Santos Foundation are funding new enrolments and training positions at the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Health Service developing skills, and tailored, culturally informed care where it is needed. A separate program supported by the Foundation is delivering programs that encourage Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to stay in school longer by combining apprenticeships with their studies, while the newly-launched Barossa Aboriginal Future Fund is also helping to support stronger, more resilient communities in coastal areas. 

“We have long been a corporate citizen of the Northern Territory, funding a range of community partnerships, many of which remain current today,” Mr Santostefano says. 

“However, we’ve really stepped it up in the past 12 months as our operations have ramped up.” 

Barossa LNG has enabled the creation of the Barossa Aboriginal Future Fund, established with joint venture partners SK and JERA Australia to share the benefits of the Barossa gas project with Aboriginal people from coastal regions connected to the operations. 

The Barossa Joint Venture partners have committed to funding linked to Barossa production – up to $10 million per year over the life of a 20+ year project – ”a significant and future-shaping investment”. 

“We are intent on paying it forward – using the scope and strength of our business to ensure that we don’t just create jobs, we create opportunities that will benefit future generations,” Mr Santostefano says. 

As Barossa LNG comes online, Santos is already preparing for its next chapter in the Northern Territory. 

As announced earlier this year, Santos is accelerating activity in the Beetaloo basin – a region with enormous potential. Next year, Santos is committed to an appraisal drilling campaign to prove up the resource for future development. 

“I cannot overstate the potential of the Beetaloo to transform the Territory’s future,” Mr Santostefano says. 

“As we have seen in Queensland’s gas fields, these sorts of projects are multi-decade, legacy-building developments, sustaining vibrant regional communities.” 

Queensland’s natural gas industry contributed $127 billion to the state economy while supporting nearly 60,000 jobs in its first decade of LNG exports, economic analysis commissioned by Australian Energy Producers has found. 

The industry directly spent about $59 billion in Queensland over the last decade, including nearly $43 billion with more than 3000 local businesses, community groups and charities. 

More than $7 billion has been paid to the Queensland government, nearly $700 million to local councils and more than $8 billion in wages to workers. 

“With our experience pioneering much of the onshore gas development across the Cooper Basin and Queensland’s Bowen and Surat basins, there is no better operator than Santos to bring the energy, economic and social potential of the Beetaloo to life,” Mr Santostefano says. 

Santos is also working with the Timor- Leste Government to transition its Bayu-Undan field into a carbon capture and storage project, helping some of the Territory and the region’s largest emitters and hard-to-abate industries reduce emissions through a technology that is tried and tested, and delivering emissions reductions. 

“We have long believed in CCS, but more importantly, we have long believed in the commercial potential of carbon capture and storage to help Australian businesses and regional emitters lower their emissions,” Mr Santostefano says. 

“In doing so, we can also bring more opportunities – and an exciting new industry to the NT – with CO2 being processed and transported from our Darwin LNG plant.” 

The Santos executive says affordable energy is the lynchpin of economic success, and the Territory is uniquely placed to be at the forefront of Australia’s affordable energy future. 

“Without it, we pay more for everything – from the glass, brick and cement that go into building our homes, to the food we buy that requires gas for fertiliser, and to store and transport it, to the bills we pay for lighting and heating our homes, fuelling our cooktops and heating our hot water tanks. 

“If the past five years of global events have taught us anything, there’s nothing more essential for prosperity and economic success than peace and security. 

“That’s why Australia must remain an active and collaborative member of the Asian region by using our resources to support our neighbours in securing their energy needs and decarbonising their economies while also ensuring Australians have access to competitively priced and abundant energy. 

“The Territory has a truly exciting future as an important energy producer locally and for other states – and for our neighbours in Asia.” TQ