Santos' decommissioning liability matches a quarter of its $22b value, but its disclosures to investors fared poorly against the latest accounting standards, according to an international survey.
Australia's biggest oil and gas producer has posted record production and cut costs, but weak fossil fuel prices have weighed on profits
Investors beware: after spending more than $40 million in the Canning Basin, the US-owned company's continued pursuit of remote gas appears to be throwing good money after bad.
The Belisama project inland from Dongara could supply up to 20 per cent of WA's demand from 2029.
Hancock Energy plans to produce up to 210 terajoules of gas a day from its Belisama gas project, starting in 2029, just as a serious gas supply shortfall is expected to hit Australia's most gas-dependent state.
It is understood that Hancock Energy will submit the project to the WA Environmental Protection Authority this week.
Underground pipelines will supply gas from the wells to a gas processing plant, built on a farm owned by Hancock Energy, according to information presented at a community consultation in Dongara on Tuesday and seen by Boiling Cold.
Another underground pipeline will take the processed gas to the Dampier to Bunbury Natural Gas Pipeline, about 15km away.
There is conflicting information in the public domain regarding the project's expected cost.
A fact sheet at the community consultation stated the project is expected to result in about $2.2 billion in capital investment. However, an Australian Industry Participation Plan submitted to the Federal Government estimated the cost at between $500 million and $1 billion.
The nearby Waitsia 250 terajoules a day gas project, owned by Mitsui and Beach Energy, was estimated to cost between $700 million and $8oo million, but now, nearing completion, the cost sits between $1.2 and $1.3 billion.Boiling Cold contacted Hancock Energy for clarification of the expected cost.
A spokesman said it was in the early stages of front-end engineering and design for Belisama.
"Gas remains essential to powering WA’s homes and industries, providing much needed reliable energy that supports jobs and living standards," he said.
"Further detail will be released at a later date.”
Peter Milne
The gas will come from the Lockyer gas field 360km north of Perth, which Gina Rinehart's Hancock Energy bought from Mineral Resources in a $1.1 billion deal in 2024 that also included the North Erregula assets.
Belisama is a conventional gas project that will not use the controversial technique of fracking, or hydraulic fracturing.
Gas from individual wells will be piped to hubs connected to pipelines flowing to the processing plant. Condensate extracted from the raw gas at the plant will be trucked out.
The company expects construction to start in the second half of 2026 after environmental approvals are obtained and to take 27 to 30 months, with first gas to market in 2029.
Hancock will be able to export 20 per cent of the production until the end of 2030, due to the Cook Government adjusting its ban on the export of onshore gas to encourage the early development of projects.
Hancock Energy has sited the processing plant in a different location than Mineral Resources planned. The new site reduces the clearing of native vegetation, is about 1.5km from public roads and outside bushfire-prone areas.
Carbon pollution from the project is expected to be less than the 100,000 tonnes of CO2 per year that triggers coverage under the Federal Government's safeguard mechanism.
UPDATES:
26 November 2025, 11:30 AM: Opportunity for gas exports added.
26 November 2025, 4:40 PM: Hancock Energy comments added.
Australia's biggest oil and gas producer has posted record production and cut costs, but weak fossil fuel prices have weighed on profits
Investors beware: after spending more than $40 million in the Canning Basin, the US-owned company's continued pursuit of remote gas appears to be throwing good money after bad.
Chief executive Bill Oplinger told Wall Street the miner had responded to all 60,000 comments on its WA expansion plans—in fact, it responded to fewer than 10, and some were unacceptable.
The WA government will soon decide whether Black Mountain Energy can frack 20 wells near the Kimberley's Fitzroy River, but promised measures to protect the environment and the rights of local people are not yet in place.
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