Santos to move on controversial coal seam project

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.