Cost Officer

Gas export project to stop dipping into domestic market. By Annabelle Banfield Updated September 9 2026 - 1:38am, first published 1:33am Kevin Gallagher says Santos will stop taking gas off the domestic market at its Gladstone LNG plant. Photo: Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS One of Australia's biggest energy companies has vowed to stop taking gas off the domestic market for overseas exports at a controversial Queensland plant. Santos has faced criticism for dipping into domestic gas supplies to meet demand for massive export contracts at its Gladstone Liquefied Natural Gas (GLNG) project. Critics say the project has driven shortfalls in the domestic market and is a key reason behind the federal government's decision to introduce a domestic gas reservation for Australia's east coast. But in an address to the National Press Club in Canberra, chief executive Kevin Gallagher vowed the Gladstone project "will not contract any third-party gas going forward". "It will meet its commitments and mitigate any shortfalls through other means," he said on Wednesday. Santos will no longer dip into domestic supplies to ship LNG to export markets from Gladstone. (Dan Peled/AAP PHOTOS) But Tim Baxter, owner and founder of consultancy group Naru Research, said Santos had previously told investors that it saw its Australian operations as a chance to secure higher margins to benefit shareholders. "After the way its GLNG project has distorted the east coast gas market and driven up prices, Santos has no right to give a self-interested lecture on energy security," Mr Baxter said. The commitment from the Santos boss came as the federal government prepares the final stages of the gas reservation scheme, which will require LNG producers to sell the equivalent of 20 per cent of exports to the domestic market. Mr Gallagher warned that would flood the domestic market, crashing the price of gas and risk future gas supply. Instead of he called for the reservation to require exporters to "offer" gas to the domestic market on commercial terms, similar to the reservation currently in place in Western Australia. Santos boss Kevin Gallagher has some issues with the government's gas reservation scheme. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS) "I have publicly supported domestic reservation as part of its development since 2018, and the time to put a reservation policy in place is now, before billions of dollars are invested," Mr Gallagher said. While the "must-sell" requirement has drawn scrutiny from the energy sector, it has been supported by manufacturers, business groups and unions. "Santos insisting that any reservation only requires them to 'offer' gas to domestic users, rather than actually supply it, is code for retaining the failed status quo," said Australian Workers Union national secretary Paul Farrow. "Current regulation already includes a 'must offer' requirement and all it has delivered is high prices, supply uncertainty and lost jobs." Australian Associated Press

Kumul Marine Terminal now fully led by Papua New guineans. PNG Haus Bung | September 9, 2026 Share this Santos has marked a historic milestone at the Kumul Marine Terminal, with the appointment of Jackson Jim and Willie Mapal as Team Leaders, making them the first Papua New Guinean nationals to fully lead the facility.

Santos to increase stake in huge $20b PNG gas project. Derek Rose (AAP) Published September 9, 2026 at 5.30am (AWST) The Papua LNG project is designed to produce 5.6 million tonnes of LNG a year. (Image: Alan Porritt/AAP PHOTOS) Australia's second-largest oil and gas producer will pay hundreds of millions to increase its stake in a long-delayed $19.5 billion gas project in Papua New Guinea. Santos is buying the additional 3.3 per cent stake in the Papua LNG project from French energy giant TotalEnergies for $262 million ($US189 million), taking its total interest to 21 per cent. This will make it the second-biggest overseas partner in the project, behind ExxonMobil, which is assuming operatorship of the joint venture from TotalEnergies. "Papua LNG is a world-class project and this is the right time to increase our position," Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher said on Tuesday. Papua LNG was strategically positioned to supply premium Asian markets and offered multiple value streams for Santos, Mr Gallagher said. A final investment decision on whether to proceed with the project is likely to be made in the fourth quarter of this year. Changes in the scope of the project had shaved $US4 billion ($5.6 billion) from its cost, TotalEnergies said, bringing it down to about $US14 billion ($19.5 billion) in capital expenditure. Papua LNG would be the country's second operational LNG project. It involves the development of two onshore gas fields 360km northwest of the capital, Port Moresby, containing estimated natural gas resources of more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent. The gas would be transported via 320km of pipeline for liquefaction at Caution Bay, at a site adjacent to the existing PNG LNG facility. ExxonMobil operates that facility and says it has contributed 4.5 billion PNG kina ($1.4 billion) in tax revenue to PNG's economy since becoming operational in 2014. Papua LNG is designed to produce 5.6 million tonnes of LNG a year, about enough to load one LNG carrier every four to five days. In late morning trade, Santos shares were changing hands at $8.39, up 0.5 per cent. Australian Associated Press