The chief executive of a gas company pushing to frack the Northern Territory's Beetaloo Basin has rejected allegations the company used "intimidation" to gain access to properties for drilling.
Tamboran Resources, which owns Sweetpea Petroleum, has been at the centre of a stoush with pastoralists in the basin, about 500 kilometres south-east of Darwin, who do not want fracking to go ahead on their properties.
The stand-off escalated earlier this year when Sweetpea Petroleum cut through fences at Tanumbirini Station against the wishes of the cattle station owners, Rallen Australia.
Chairing a Senate inquiry in Canberra on Monday, Greens senator Sarah Hanson-Young said Tamboran Resources was "in a legal dispute with Rallen".
"It's been put to this committee that your [company's] modus operandi is ... intimidation," she told Tamboran Resources chief executive Joel Riddle.
"You cut fences to access the property — fences that are not yours — and you entered this property without approval.
"How is that upholding respectful relationships with stakeholders?"
Speaking to the inquiry, Mr Riddle said it was "categorically false that we've done anything to pressure anyone".
"We respect the rights and views of all pastoralists in the Beetaloo," Mr Riddle told senators.
Mr Riddle also said the company did not break any laws by entering Tanumbirini Station and moving equipment onto the property without Rallen's consent.
"Pastoralists have surface rights in the Beetaloo, other companies have mineral rights, other companies have geothermal rights — we have oil and gas exploration rights," he said.
"No one party has a veto over rights of others."
The gas junior has previously come under fire for failing to appear at the ongoing Senate inquiry, which is examining the Morrison government's controversial grants program, from which it received $7.5 million of gas subsidies.
Tamboran now the biggest player in Beetaloo Basin
Last month, Tamboran Resources became the biggest player in the Beetaloo Basin after acquiring Origin Energy's exploration interests for $60 million, subject to consent from the NT government.
Speaking at the inquiry, Tamboran director David Siegel said gas development would benefit traditional owners by providing "employment and economic development opportunities".
"There are royalty streams that will flow in a success case that will provide a certain amount of autonomy around expenditure," he said.
"We would see infrastructure improvements, particularly in this area, the ability to use mobile telephones and WiFi and so forth ... you'll know how dire it can be to try and maintain communication."
