Santos

The oil and gas producer's court win raises the evidentiary bar for cultural heritage cases, but doesn't signal an end to them.

After a slow twelve months, it has taken just 48 hours for three multi-billion dollar prospects to land on the table and reignite interest in Australian markets.

With a dearth of obvious expansion opportunities, the mooted $80 billion tie-up will help deliver growth and scale, but arguably not much beyond. It could, however, help Santos attract interest from other suitors.

Santos' court battle against allegations of greenwashing could be set for a cultural stoush over the biases of a potential court-appointed referee.