MELBOURNE (Reuters) – An Australian court declared void grants that the federal government awarded to a subsidiary of Empire Energy Group for exploration drilling in the Beetaloo shale basin in the Northern Territory.
“The Court declares that the Commonwealth’s decision dated 9 September 2021 to enter into three contracts with the third respondent is invalid,” Justice John Griffiths of the Federal Court of Australia said in a judgment delivered on Friday.
The order came in a case brought by the Environment Centre NT Inc against Resources Minister Keith Pitt alleging that he had failed to make proper inquiries before granting Imperial Energy A$21 million ($15 million) for its Northern Territory fracking programme.
($1 = 1.3866 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Sonali Paul; Editing by Himani Sarkar)
