Energy & Natural Resources

Fortescue has brought legal action against start-up Element Zero and three former employees, alleging “industrial scale misuse” of the Western Australian mining company’s confidential information.

The Australian Energy Regulator has secured a $2.75 million penalty in a case against oil and gas company Santos alleging record-keeping failures in breach of the National Gas Rules. 

MinterEllison’s Perth office has welcomed a new energy and resources expert from Dentons, fleshing out the firm’s Western Australian capabilities. 

The Fair Work Commission has found in favour of a union in its bid to keep an email containing legal advice confidential amid a stoush with Peabody Energy and other mining companies over a proposed multi-enterprise agreement. 

Mining giant Rio Tinto faces a potential class action over allegations of sex discrimination and sexual harassment at mine sites in Australia, following a report that made “disturbing” findings about the company’s workplace culture.

A shareholder has dropped her case against ANZ over concerns it was failing to properly manage climate change risk, after the bank publicly committed to treating it as a key risk, later revealing it would stop providing project finance to new or expanded oil and gas projects.

Equitable contribution by Western Power, Ventia and a property owner found jointly liable for the same loss resulting from the Parkerville bushfire in WA must be mathematically equal regardless of how the liability was apportioned, a judge has found.

Baker McKenzie has been dragged into a court case brought by a shareholder and creditor of failed energy company Armour Group, which alleges the law firm was knowingly involved in a plan by China-based Shunkang Group to take control of the company for cheap.

Supporting KPMG’s bid to move a class action over the collapse of Arrium from Melboure to Sydney, former directors of the failed steel company have told the High Court the Victoria Supreme Court was impermissibly preferring the policy of its state in finding a contingency fee order made in the case could be factored into a transfer application.

An appeals court has dismissed an environmental advocacy group’s challenge to the extension of two Mach Energy and Whitehaven Coal mega coal mines in NSW, saying the current environmental laws are “ill-suited” to dealing with the global threat of climate change.