Company Profile

Santos

Santos’ climate-wrecking oil and gas expansion plans and the financial institutions backing them

Last updated:
March 2026

Santos is one of Australia’s largest producers of oil and gas, and is pursuing massive expansion plans consistent with the failure of the Paris Agreement. The company is currently building the Barossa gas project off the coast of the Tiwi Islands and is seeking to build the Narrabri gas project in New South Wales.

The projects that Santos is trying to pursue include:

The Barossa gas project: off the coast of the Northern Territory the Barossa gas project is in the water north of Tiwi. In April 2023, a group of Tiwi and Larrakia Traditional Owners filed a human rights complaint against the banks that lent to Santos, saying their human rights had been breached.

The Narrabri gas project: Santos plans to drill 850 gas wells throughout the Pilliga Forest in NSW despite years of opposition from Gomeroi Traditional Owners and farmers.

The Dorado oil and gas project: off the coast of Western Australia Santos announced this is Australia’s second largest oil reserve despite the clear science confirming it is out of line with the Paris agreement.

Papua LNG project: located in Papua New Guinea many organisations have raised the serious human rights and biodiversity risks associated with the project.

Will you email the banks calling on them to stop supporting Santos and its destructive projects?

Take Action

Santos is at the centre of a huge pollutant leak and alleged cover-up scandal, while still receiving enormous financial support from ANZ and Westpac.

Santos has no plans to fix or replace a faulty tank that will spew methane into the atmosphere for another 25 years.

Tell ANZ and Westpac to cut ties with this climate wrecker once and for all!

Name(Required)

First Last

Email Address(Required)

Subject

Your message to ANZ and Westpac

(A salutation to the CEO and Chair of each bank will be added to the top. Your name will be automatically added to the bottom of the email.)

I am deeply concerned by recent reports that your client, Santos, despite being aware of a long-standing fault, intends to continue operating an LNG tank that has been leaking methane for nearly two decades, and to extend its use for a further 25 years without repair or replacement (1). It is reported that “the scale of leaking pollutants could be equivalent to 8,300 new cars on the road every year it is in use.”

This is a climate disaster in plain sight.

The faulty tank poses a major threat to the safety of the Darwin community and our climate. Without action, this massive leak will continue for another 25 years, as Santos plans to use the tank to store LNG from its new and devastating Barossa gas project off the Tiwi Islands.

This is not the first time Santos has shown disregard for people and the environment. In recent years the company is also reported to have:

- contaminated an aquifer in NSW’s Pilliga Forest, threatening water supplies (2),
- spilled about 250,000 litres of oil near the Lake Eyre Basin in Queensland (3), and
- been responsible for an oil spill near WA’s Lowendal Islands that killed dolphins, according to an internal whistleblower (4).

Furthermore, your bank continues to provide Santos with financial support for its reckless and harmful expansion plans.

Santos is also pursuing at least five new oil and gas projects that could add 486 million tonnes of CO₂-e to its already massive climate toll – that’s more than Australia’s total annual emissions.

The world's leading scientific and energy bodies, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and International Energy Agency are clear: to limit warming to 1.5°C, there can be no new coal, oil, or gas developments.

Santos’ expansion plans are completely inconsistent with the climate goals your bank claims to support. This is a company that should be ineligible for any new or renewed finance.

In 2024 Commonwealth Bank, Australia’s largest bank, cut ties with oil and gas companies like Santos that lack a Paris-aligned transition plan (5). Your bank must do the same and make good on its climate commitments.

I urge you to take immediate action:

1. Require Santos to fully repair or replace the Darwin LNG tank, suspend its use and publicly confirm that operations will not resume until an independent audit verifies the issue has been resolved.

2. Commit to no new or renewed finance for Santos, including loans, bonds and underwriting, unless the company abandons its new oil and gas projects that are consistent with catastrophic levels of global warming.

Please respond to this letter within 14 business days outlining how your bank intends to act on these urgent matters. Anything less risks making your bank complicit in decades of environmental and climate destruction.

Sincerely,

Yes, of course I want updates about Market Forces campaigns!

This field is hidden when viewing the form

TOOK ACTION: Banks - Santos loan announcement - Sep 2025

Privacy policy

Top 20 financiers (bonds arranged, loans provided) to Santos in 2023 and 2024:

Note: To our knowledge, CommBank has not financed Santos since 2022. CommBank also withdrew from a loan refinancing for Santos in September 2024, and has a policy that effectively renders Santos ineligible for further finance from the bank.

In Australia:

ANZ
NAB
Westpac

In Japan:

MUFG
Mizuho
SMBC

In China:

Bank of China
China Construction Bank
Agricultural Bank of China
Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (ICBC)

Asia (excluding China and Japan):

DBS
UOB
State Bank of India

In North America:

Citigroup
Goldman Sachs
Royal Bank of Canada

In Europe:

Deutsche Bank
ING
DNB
Intesa Sanpaolo

Tiwi Traditional Owners protest Santos Barossa project in Japan

Tiwi Traditional Owners Therese Bourke and Pirrawayingi traveled to Japan to call on MUFG, SMBC and Mizuho to cut ties with Santos.

Tell the banks to cut ties with Santos!

Take action

Investor briefings

Company	Briefing	Date
Santos Limited	Out of line, out of time: Investors must demand more from Santos	March 2025
Santos Limited	Human rights and reputational issues with Santos' Barossa project	April 2024
Santos Limited	Misguided strategy in the face of transition risks	March 2024

Santos news

Santos shareholders urged to vote against remuneration report on climate grounds

Mar 10, 2023

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 9 March: In an Australian first, a formal statement has been filed on behalf of over 100 shareholders, urging all investors to vote against Santos’ remuneration report on climate risk grounds. Will van de Pol, Acting Executive Director,...

Fake dead dolphins delivered to big four banks over Santos oil disaster

Feb 23, 2023

MEDIA RELEASE Thursday 23 February 2023: The big four Australian banks - ANZ, Commonwealth Bank, NAB and Westpac - have received a special delivery of ‘dead’ inflatable dolphins for financing oil and gas giant Santos, which allegedly killed marine life in a major oil...

Which super funds are the biggest enablers of climate-wrecking oil and gas expansion?

Feb 20, 2023

21 February 2023 Now that super funds are required to disclose their investments to members every six months, we are able to track over time which funds have the highest proportion of their members’ retirement savings invested in climate-wrecking oil and gas companies...

NAB fails to address fossil fuel lending loopholes at 2022 AGM

Dec 16, 2022

16 December 2022 NAB faces shareholder backlash over continued support for new fossil fuels at 2022 AGM Today, National Australia Bank (NAB) faced a formal proposal from shareholders asking it to demonstrate how the company’s financing would not be used for the...

« Older Entries

Next Entries »

Cover image credit: Jeremy Buckingham

Disclaimer

The information provided by Market Forces does not constitute financial advice. The information is presented in order to inform people motivated by environmental concerns and take actions based on those concerns. Market Forces is organising data for environmental ends.

The information and actions provided by Market Forces do not account for any individual’s personal objectives, financial situation or needs. It should not be used, relied upon, or treated as a substitute for specific professional advice.

Market Forces recommends all users obtain their own independent professional advice before making any decision relating to their particular requirements or circumstances. Switching super funds may have unintended financial consequences.

Market Forces does not receive funding from any super funds or other financial institutions.

For more information about Market Forces, please visit the about page of the site. To see how we profile super funds go to the methodology page.

Join us

Subscribe for email updates: be part of the movement taking action to protect our climate.

Name(Required)

Email(Required)

Country(Required)