Australia’s Santos STO.AX can proceed with construction of an undersea pipeline vital to its $4.3 billion Barossa gas project after a court on Monday ruled in favour of the oil and gas company in a dispute with an Indigenous man looking to pause the work.

Work on the pipeline, which will connect the Barossa gas field to a processing plant in the northern Australian city of Darwin, was paused by court order in November after a suit by a traditional land owner from the nearby Tiwi Islands.

Simon Munkara sought to halt work and force Santos to do a fresh assessment of the pipeline’s impact on underwater cultural heritage.

However, Justice Natalie Charlesworth on Monday dismissed Munkara’s application and lifted the November court injunction, opening the door for Santos to commence work on the pipeline.

“In respect of the claim founded on tangible cultural heritage, the evidence established is nothing more than a negligible chance that there may be objects of archaeological value in the area of the pipeline route,” she said.

The Environmental Defenders Office, which represented Munkara, did not immediately respond to Reuters when asked if it would appeal the decision. Santos did not respond to a request for comment.

Woodside and Santos announced preliminary talks in December on an A$80 billion ($53.53 billion) tie-up, although the holiday break means a deal is unlikely before February.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Lewis Jackson in Sydney; Editing by Sonali Paul and Christopher Cushing)