PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The shareholders of oil and gas major Santos have backed the company’s development of its Narrabri coal seam gas (CSG) project, in New South Wales.

At the company’s annual general meeting, which was held at the end of last week, shareholders “overwhelmingly” rejected a resolution put forward by 161 shareholders seeking that Santos abandon its more than $1-billion investment in the project.

The Wilderness Society drove the initiative to form a resolution against the project. However, after the vote was put to shareholders, the result was 99.2% against the resolution.

“Shareholders have overwhelmingly recognised the importance of the Narrabri gas project to the company, the local community and the state of New South Wales, and have expressed confidence in our ability to work closely with local landowners and businesses to deliver a safe and sustainable project,” Santos MD and CEO David Knox said.

He pointed out that the Narrabri project could potentially supply between 25% and 50% of New South Wales’ natural gas needs, which was why the project was declared a project of state significance.

“Without new supplies, such as this project, New South Wales will not have sufficient supply of natural gas by the end of 2017. On the flip side, by developing the project, the state can have access to a dedicated local, and more affordable, supply of gas,” Knox added.

Narrabri was expected to produce some 200 TJ/d once in full production, and would employ some 1 200 people during construction and 200 while operational.

The Wilderness Society has put together a document with five reasons why the Narrabri gas project should be ditched. These include that the project is financially risky, that it is isolated from potential clients and markets, that it faces regulatory and legal risk, that community concern about the potential impacts of the project is increasing and that the project has an “appalling” history of environmental contamination.

According to the society, Santos plans to drill wells through the recharge aquifers of the great Artesian basin, which is an essential water source for Outback Australia. The group also says farmers are at risk of becoming “collateral damage” in the CSG industry.