Page 11 - AsianOil Week 36 2021

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Australia defends shale

drilling incentives

The government has defended its decision to provide
drilling grants to developers within the Beetaloo Sub-Basin

COMMENTARY THE Australian government has defended its
programme of financial incentives for shale
drillers in the Beetaloo Sub-Basin after environ-
WHAT: mental campaigners challenged its legitimacy in
Australian Resources court.
Minister Keith Pitt Australian Resources Minister Keith Pitt said
has said the Beetaloo on September 7 that he had notified the Envi-
Cooperative Drilling ronment Centre of the Northern Territory that
Programme will continue. he intended to continue to operate the Beetaloo
Cooperative Drilling Programme. He described
WHY: the initiative, which provides developers with
Environmental funding to help speed up exploration and
campaigners have appraisal in the basin, as crucial to the govern-
challenged the incentives ment’s “gas-fired recovery” agenda.
in the federal court. Canberra has unveiled a number of measures
over the past year that are geared towards bol-
WHAT NEXT: stering domestic gas supplies in order to lower
The government will fight local prices and kick-start a manufacturing
to protect its “gas-led renaissance. The government said last year that it
recovery” agenda. would direct federal funding to five basins to do
just that, with Beetaloo picked as the first target
for the government’s backing.
The green lobby, however, has objected to
the government’s plans and has called for an
end to federal funding of upstream projects in
the Beetaloo. The Environment Centre NT and
the Environmental Defenders Office filed a legal
action against Pitt on July 28 in the Federal Court
in a bid to have the programme and associated The government expects the programme to
grant decisions set aside. They also called on the deliver around 10 additional exploration wells in
government to pause the programme while the the Beetaloo by 2022, bringing forward at least
case worked its way through the system. AUD150mn ($110.6mn) of private investment
in the process.
Pitt fight Pitt said this week: “The Beetaloo Coop-
Pitt said in March that AUD50mn ($36.85mn) erative Drilling Programme is a key measure
worth of grants would be provided for Beeta- under the Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan and is
loo drilling programmes. Since then, the gov- crucial to the government’s gas-fired recovery
ernment has awarded three grants totalling agenda. I have requested my department to pro-
AUD21mn ($15.48mn) to Empire Energy sub- ceed with the grant to Imperial Oil and Gas that
sidiary Imperial Oil and Gas, which operates 12 I announced on July 7. It is important that we
blocks in the NT’s McArthur-Beetaloo basins. continue to get on with the job.”
The government is providing public money He added that the programme, along with
to speed up drilling in a basin that has been other activities in the basin, had the potential to
likened to the US’ prolific Marcellus shale play. make a significant contribution to securing reli-
The Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Programme able energy supplies for the country.
aims to provide grants of between AUD750,000 Pitt concluded by saying: “I have also
($553,000) and AUD7.5mn ($5.53mn) to sup- instructed my department to continue with the
port exploration drilling that occurs before assessment of other applications to the Beetaloo
December 30, 2022. Cooperative Drilling Programme.”

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