Narrabri gas project two steps from approval: Santos CEO speaks at forum

Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher has told The AustEnergy Nation forum that the company is just two approvals away from proceeding with its Narrabri gas project.

Mr Gallagher said the company is waiting on Native Title and a pipeline licence from the NSW government before it can proceed.

He also warned proposed changes to Australia’s domestic gas policy could put the economic viability of the Narrabri project at risk, despite the company remaining committed to developing the long-awaited project.

“All we need now is that Native Title to the project, and then the pipeline licence from the New South Wales government, and we’re ready to press the go button. But of course, what I would say is, it’s a domestic-only project,” he said.

“We’ve committed 100 per cent of that gas to the domestic market, so the impacts of the domestic gas policy changes could have an impact on our ability to do that project if it drove the price of gas down below the price required to justify investment.”

Mr Gallagher said Santos would only proceed with Narrabri if the project could deliver an appropriate return on investment.

“What I’m saying is that you would need a price setting for any investment to justify investment, so you get a return on that investment, depending on how it all shakes out,” he said.

“If that was to make the project not economic, then you wouldn’t. I wouldn’t ask my investors to invest in it.

“Santos is not going to invest in projects that are not economic.”

Santos has previously committed to supplying all gas from the Narrabri project to the domestic market, with the company saying it could meet around half of NSW’s gas supply needs.

A Santos spokesperson said the company remained committed to developing the project.

“Santos has consistently committed to developing the Narrabri gas project, which would be 100 per cent committed to the domestic market and meet around half of the gas supply needs of NSW,” the spokesperson said.

“As Santos CEO Kevin Gallagher noted, the domestic gas reservation policy in its current form risks crowding out domestic gas projects if it becomes uneconomic to develop them, and Narrabri is the only solution that could sustainably provide affordable, reliable gas to the east coast market in the coming decades.”

Mr Gallagher used his keynote address to argue that Australia should make greater use of its gas resources, saying the country’s energy resources represented a major economic advantage.

He said Australia had more than 240,000 petajoules of demonstrated gas resources, enough to continue producing at current rates for domestic and export markets for about 40 years.

“We do not have a gas shortage,” he told the forum. “We just need to get more gas out of the ground.”

Mr Gallagher said the oil and gas industry was also a major contributor to employment, government revenue and economic productivity, arguing that Australia should continue developing its existing energy resources while investing in new industries.

“If we want to grow real wages for Australian workers, the first place to grow jobs is in oil and gas,” he said.

He said the industry had contributed about $105bn to the Australian economy in 2024–25, supported around 215,000 jobs and paid almost $22bn in taxes and royalties.

The Narrabri gas project has been the subject of years of planning, environmental assessment and legal and regulatory processes.

If developed, Santos says the project would provide a major new source of gas for the NSW and east coast domestic market.