Land Access and Community Compensation Plan
Santos is undertaking activities in NSW which involve exploration for, and in due course, production of natural gas from coal seams.
Unlike coal mining, the extraction of natural gas from coal seams generally does not require the freehold acquisition of land. Our operations have a small footprint that enables us to coexist with current and future land uses.
We value and respect the landholders we work with and it is important our access arrangements with private landholders reflect this.
As such, we have developed a significant new landholder compensation plan. This includes the development of individual Farm Management Plan to ensure landholders are clear about all aspects of our work on their land and they are completely comfortable the profitability and sustainability of their business won’t be compromised.
The new initiative features increased financial compensation through land-value based payments and an annual fee service paid for as long as Santos is accessing your land. Those involved in the longer term production phase of our operations will also share in a Landholder Incentive Fund, which we estimate could equal more than $150 million over 20 years.
To ensure the regional communities hosting us also directly benefit from our activities, we will establish a Regional Community Benefit Fund, which we estimate will exceed $300 million over the next twenty years and will be used to support major initiatives and infrastructure projects in the areas we operate.
By working in partnership with private landholders and local communities, we want to ensure the northwest continues to prosper through further investment and job creation, without impact on the agricultural productivity of the region.