Santos to move on controversial coal seam project

Narrabri project would meet half the gas needs of New South Wales.
ADELAIDE, Australia, May 16 (UPI) --Nearly all voting shareholders expressed support for a controversial coal seam gas project in New South Wales, Australian energy company Santos said Friday.
Santos said 99.22 percent of its shareholders voted against a resolution offered by 161 stakeholders to withdraw from the Narrabri gas project during an annual general meeting."Shareholders have overwhelmingly recognized the importance of the Narrabri gas project to the company, the local community and the state of New South Wales," Santos Chief Executive Officer David Knox said in a statement Friday.Dissenting shareholders were supported by The Wilderness Society. Its director, Lyndon Schneiders, wrote in the Sydney Morning Herald in March that coal seam gas made Santos "an environmental vandal."Coal seams gas is an unconventional source of natural gas incorporated into coal deposits. The New South Wales government in 2012 introduced measures to manage conflicts between the agricultural community and coal seam operations.Santos says without the Narrabri project, the state would be faced with higher natural gas prices. The proposed project could supply the state with 50 percent of its gas needs.


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EU eyes plan to diversify energy but no easy fixes

AMSTERDAM (AP) — The European Union’s executive has proposed a strategy to secure the bloc’s energy supplies — and notably reduce its reliance on Russia — by seeking new supplies from the Caspian Sea, the Mediterranean, and increasing use of transportable Liquefied Natural Gas, or LNG.


The plan EU Energy Commissioner Guenther Oettinger presented Wednesday will be considered by European leaders at a June 26-27 summit, but offers no easy fixes. Europe imports 40 percent of its gas from Russia, and half of that via pipelines that run through Ukraine.
Oettinger said at a press conference in Brussels European countries should also increase renewable energy production and “sustainable production of fossil fuels.”


Europe imports about half of all its energy supplies, but targets producing 20 percent from renewable sources by 2020.