Santos Case Study

Criteria for marking: • Identification of relevant legal principles and other relevant regulatory frameworks; • Application of legal rules and regulatory approaches to the fact scenarios provided; • General quality of analysis including recognition of uncertainties; • Appropriate acknowledgment of legal sources and other relevant materials, including a reference list with key sources listed, using a conventional citation style. Background facts on Santos Ltd Santos Ltd. is Australia's second-largest independent oil and gas producer. The company website states that it has ‘five core assets’ located at: (i) The Cooper Basin (located in SE Qld and NE Sth Australia), (ii) Northern Australia and Timor L’Este, (iii) Papua New Guinea, (iv) Queensland and New South Wales, and (v) Western Australia. Santos has a clean fuels transition strategy (see fuels-transition/). Nevertheless, the company also has extensive plans to expand the production of fossil fuel based energy sources at a variety of sites in Australia, PNG and Timor L’Este. In its international ventures, Santos recently took over the operations of Oil Search Limited in 2021. Oil Search is a large PNG company which owns the Hides Gas Plant in PNG. That plant has been blockaded by local protesters in the past due to alleged lack of benefits flowing to local landowners - see continues. Within Australia Santos recently gained development approval from the NSW government for a controversial new coal seam gas field at Narrabri in northern NSW – see Required Assume that you are an investment analyst for a major superannuation fund which currently holds a substantial parcel of shares in Santos Ltd. After the recent Glasgow Climate Conference of the Parties to the UNFCCC, the super fund’s investment committee is reconsidering its position on Santos. The committee requests a written briefing from you on the legal compliance obligations and any potential liabilities that Santos and/or its directors may face regarding directors’ duties and corporate disclosure obligations under the Corporations Act 2001 (Cth) with particular emphasis on three questions: (a) Does the Santos Clean Energy Transition strategy adequately address shareholder concerns about climate change? (900 Words)