Beetaloo Energy Australia has taken a major leap forward in its Northern Territory gas ambitions after securing the formal backing of Traditional Owners to sell gas from its ongoing appraisal program at the company’s Carpentaria project.
The company recently changed its name from Empire Energy to Beetaloo Energy in a nod to the vast gas basin in which it operates and to reflect the company’s determination to become the next big onshore gas producer in Australia.
In a landmark on-country meeting concluded yesterday, representatives of the Mambaliya Rrumburriya Wuyaliya Aboriginal Land Trust, who are the custodians of the land covering Beetaloo’s grounds, gave their official consent for the “beneficial use of gas”.
The meeting, organised by the Northern Land Council, was held according to the Territory’s land rights laws and the company’s existing exploration deed, through its wholly owned subsidiary Imperial Oil & Gas.
Under the NT’s Petroleum Act, the Traditional Owners’ consent has now cleared a critical regulatory and cultural hurdle, allowing Beetaloo to monetise gas produced during the appraisal phase of exploration before full-scale production begins.
Beetaloo Energy managing director Alex Underwood said: “We are grateful to Traditional Owners for their decision to continue driving the project forward. Beetaloo Energy is deeply committed to working with landowners and local communities to share the economic and social benefits that are already accruing and will continue to accrue from the ongoing exploration and appraisal of the project.”
A formal agreement on a package of benefits for Traditional Owners is still being inked, the company says its collaborative discussions with a committee of Traditional Owners and the Northern Land Council are bearing fruit.
When agreed, the final deal will be written up under the framework laid out by the Land Rights Act.
Beetaloo is waiting on its contractor United States-based Halliburton to run 60 hydraulic stimulation stages at the company’s Carpentaria-5H horizontal well, expected to be completed in three weeks.
The company will then be able to move forward with its first gas sales.
The Carpentaria-5H well has been drilled into the 70-metre-thick Velkerri B shale horizon to an average depth of 1580m using 5.5 inch casing. The 3.31km-long well is the longest in the Beetaloo sub-basin.
Although the company has used the same drill pad as its Carpentaria-2H and 3H test wells, Carpentaria-5H has been developed as a full-blown production hole, allowing it to be used to produce commercial gas for sale into the local market. It also forms part of the company’s overall Carpentaria pilot project.
Post stimulation, the new well will undergo production flow testing before being shut in and then tied back into Beetaloo’s nearby Carpentaria gas plant, currently under construction.
When fully operational, the gas will be processed at the facility before being piped directly into the McArthur River pipeline, which runs straight past the company’s front door.
In time, management plans to draw enough gas from the basin to supply the NT government with as much as 100 terajoules of gas per day.
The Beetaloo Basin has been touted as one of Australia’s most promising onshore gas plays, with some estimates placing its gas endowment as high as 500 trillion cubic feet of gas. In all likelihood, the basin is destined to play a key role in the nation’s energy transition and export strategy.
Adding to the gas field’s growing credentials, oil major Santos Limited is doubling down on the basin with plans for two wells in 2026 and is eyeing a second LNG train in Darwin to enable exports.
That move coincides with APA Group’s $66 million pipeline ambitions to connect Tamboran’s Shenandoah South project to the Amadeus pipeline by 2026. Meanwhile, offshore players, such as ENI, are also watching closely as momentum builds across the region.
Beetaloo is sitting pretty with a healthy $40.5 million in the bank, giving it plenty of firepower to fuel its ambitions.
The cash pile was boosted with a $28 million capital raise in May and doesn’t include a further $28.8 million in undrawn debt facilities from Macquarie Bank, ready to be tapped into when needed.
The “beneficial use of gas” consent is a huge step forward for Beetaloo and is a worthy prize for a company that started exploring the emerging basin in 2011.
With exploration and appraisal already yielding promising signs, the company’s ability to soon sell appraisal gas will add a crucial early revenue stream as it continues to assess the basin’s long-term commercial potential.
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By James Pearson
