Page 11 - GLNG Week 02 2021

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

Australia backs Beetaloo

development

The government has unveiled a new round of funding geared at

speeding up the country’s shale gas development

INVESTMENT THE Australian government has announced January 14 that additional federal funding would
plans to provide additional funding that is be provided for the new Northern Territory Gas
WHAT: geared towards speeding up the development of Industry Roads Upgrades corridor.
Australia will invest the Northern Territory’s shale gas resources. The road upgrades plan is part of Canber-
$167.9mn in upgrading Following its announcement last month ra’s Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan, which also
roads in the NT. that it would provide more than AUD50mn includes the aforementioned exploration
($38.7mn) in grants for exploration drilling in grants announced on December 17. Pitt said last
WHY: the Beetaloo Sub-basin, the government said month that the government would contribute
Upgraded roads will this week that it now intends to provide an up to AUD7.5mn ($5.84mn) per well, capped
make drilling operations additional AUD217mn ($167.9mn) in funding at three wells per venture, before June 30, 2022.
and logistics easier to for road upgrades that should ease the basin’s This year could see five Beetaloo wells drilled
manage. development. by Santos, Tamboran Resources, Origin Energy,
Although the Beetaloo has drummed up Falcon Oil & Gas and Empire Energy.
WHAT NEXT: a great deal of excitement in recent months, The decision to follow exploration grants with
Several exploration thanks to promising results from a Santos-op- transportation infrastructure upgrades makes
and appraisal wells are erated vertical well in the basin, the play is still sense when considering the long-term future of
planned for the Beetaloo relatively undeveloped. For example, more wells the territory’s gas industry.
this year. are slated for drilling this year than have been While the NT Geological Survey has esti-
sunk over the last decade. mated the basin could hold more than 200,000
The government hopes that the provision PJ (5.21 trillion cubic metres) of gas, billions of
of early drilling grants, coupled with improve- dollars’ worth of investment will be required
ments to site access, will remedy this situation. before Beetaloo’s potential can be fully realised.
Canberra has picked Beetaloo as the first basin Pitt has noted that development of the sub-ba-
to back directly as part of a wider national strat- sin could increase economic activity by AUD18-
egy to promote gas production and consump- 36.8bn ($13.93-28.47bn) over the next 20 years.
tion as a means to reinvigorate the national The NT’s wet season, which runs from
economy in the wake of the coronavirus November until April, can hamper drilling
(COVID-19) pandemic. operations, with contractors struggling to get
As such, the government has a good deal rid- into and out of remote site locations via rural
ing on the play’s success. roads. As such, improving the NT’s road net-
works is expected to increase road reliability and
Road upgrades safety during the wet season.
Federal Minister for Resources, Water and Commenting on the investment, Pitt said:
Northern Australia Keith Pitt announced on “These road upgrades will provide quality

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