b'CommentaryCanberra observedAustralia, Latin America & Caribbean,Approval of the Barossa gasSantos set about lobbying hard. It argued North America, and Papua New Guinea.projectthe power of lobbying that if Barossa did not proceed, then Newmont was founded in 1921 and hasthe Darwin LNG project would have to been publicly traded since 1925. It paidSantos operates the depleting Bayu- be mothballed and Government would A$26.2 bn for Newcrest, which had aUndan gas field, which is approximatelyconsequently forgo royalties, Australias market capital of about $22 bn at the530 km northwest of Darwin in the Timor- reputation would be damaged in Japan time of the takeover. Leste controlled resource area and it planand Korea (where two the joint venture Meanwhile, Brookfields reported bid ofto develop the Barossa gas field which ispartners are situated) and there would $18.7 bn for Origin was unsuccessful.approximately 300 km north of Darwinbe hundreds of job losses. These were Even though the market capital of(see https://www.thesaturdaypaper. strong arguments by a very effective Origin was $14.8 bn when the final bidcom.au/news/environment/2023/12/16/ lobbyist, and the legislation to allow emails-reveal-labor-caved-santos Santos to proceed with Barossa without was made. For those who do not know,). The Brookfield is a Canadian multinationalCarbon Capture and Storage (CC&S) planan effective CC&S plan has been passed.company that is one of the worlds largestwas to pump the CO 2from the BarossaWe will just have to wait and see what alternative investment managementfield to the Bayu-Undan field.transpires as this field is developed.companies with over US$725 bn of assetsThere are two problems with this plan. under management in 2022. It focusesFirstly, if the Barossa field is treated as a on direct control investments in realnew field, then it should supply offsets estate, renewable power, infrastructure,for CO 2and secondly, the facilities are not credit and private equity (accordingin place to pump the CO 2from Barossa to toWikipedia). Bayu-Undan. HENDERSON BYTE: Seismic Swifties - how the performance of a pop star is recorded onaseismographThanks to a seismograph being well-positioned relative(30-80 Hz) and one in lower frequencies (1-8 Hz). From the to Seattles football field, in January 2011 the reaction bysituations at the time, the higher frequencies were clearly the audience to a Seattle Seahawks touchdown could befrom the music itself, while the lower frequencies changed observed as a seismic event. In July last year a strongerwith the tempo of the songs and the audience reaction to event was recorded on the same seismograph as a result ofthem. This was distinguished from any resonance of the the performance of Taylor Swift to an audience of 70 000 so- building itself. Fortunately, this is different from a situation in called Swifties. One of her songs appropriately included theGothenburg in 1985, when the movement of the audience words shake, shake, shake, shake. resonated with the clay foundations of the building, forcing The seismograms were studied by Jacqueline Caplan- further concerts to be banned in that location.Auerbach, a geology professor at Western WashingtonMuch of the above information was provided by The University, who presented her findings to the AmericanEconomist magazine of December 16, 2023 (p 64-65) under Geophysical Union meeting in San Francisco in Decemberthe sub-heading of Terpsichoseismology (!).2023. One event was magnitude 2.3. Generally, the signalsAs Taylor Swift is booked to perform in Melbourne in were stronger for the Taylor Swift event than for theFebruary 2024 to an audience of 100 000, and in Sydney Seahawks events, possibly because the Swifties were morethat same month to a capacity crowd of 80 000, well be coordinated than football fans. searching for the nearest seismographs. Watch this space!In attempting to determine if the responses came fromRoger Hendersonthe music or the audience response, Dr Caplan-Auerbach isolated two sets of signals, one in higher frequenciesE rogah@tpg.com.auFollow all our socials for the latest updates!E C D Q M k32 PREVIEWFEBRUARY 2024'