Page 12 - GLNG Week 02 2021

GLNG COMMENTARY GLNG

The government is
counting on Beetaloo to
provide a flood of new
gas supplies to meet
both domestic demand
while also feeding
existing LNG projects.

infrastructure to support gas development and government made sure to acknowledge the
other industries in and around the Beetaloo opportunity available to provide existing LNG
sub-basin. This will support industry and busi- export facilities with feedstock.
ness by providing more reliable freight links that Given the limited amount of wells spudded
will reduce the cost of doing business.” on the play, highlighting both domestic and
He added that the Beetaloo’s development international marketing options is a smart
had the “potential to transform the [NT’s] econ- move, given the spike in spot LNG prices in
omy, creating thousands of jobs and supply[ing] recent months.
Australia’s gas demand for decades to come.” Additional government support has been
warmly welcomed by the Australian Petro-
First of five leum Production and Exploration Association
The Beetaloo Strategic Basin Plan is the first of (APPEA), with NT director Keld Knudsen
five such programmes announced in the 2020- describing it as underscoring confidence in the
2021 Federal Budget, which also fall under the territory’s “world-class gas reserves”.
government’s Gas-fired Recovery Strategy. APPEA noted: “The Beetaloo sub-basin still
Australia’s much touted gas-led economic requires billions of dollars of investment in
recovery, which was unveiled in September high-risk exploration and the construction of
2020, aims to “reset” the East Coast gas market production wells, gas processing and pipeline
by encouraging both upstream and mid-stream infrastructure to get the gas to market, processes Highlighting both
development. As part of these efforts, Austral- that will take several years.”
ian Prime Minister Scott Morrison flagged up domestic and
five basins that would receive fast-track devel- What next? international
opment plans, including Queensland’s North This last year has seen a great deal of excitement
Bowen and Galilee Basins. build around the basin’s potential amid growing marketing options
The federal government is trying to speed concerns over projections of an imminent gas
up development of a variety of domestic gas shortfall supply. is a smart move,
resources ahead of a looming supply shortfall These have been exacerbated by volatility on
on the eastern seaboard. The Australian Energy the international gas market even as the coun- given the spike in
Market Operator (AEMO) warned last year try slowly moves towards becoming an importer spot LNG prices
that a deficit could emerge in Victoria as soon as itself.
2023, as offshore fields mature and dry up. The The government is counting on Beetaloo to in recent months.
operator has warned that the East Coast could provide a flood of new gas supplies to meet both
experience a 500 mmcf (14.16mn cubic metre) domestic demand while also feeding existing
per day shortfall by the middle of the decade. LNG projects on the East Coast. While there has
Much of the government’s response to this been one exciting result out of the play, several
warning has been to talk about how to redirect more are need before the Beetaloo can be talked
gas from export projects – which are already about in the same breath as the prolific Marcel-
short on feedstock – much to the consterna- lus shale in the US. As such, the industry will be
tion of industry. While talking up the domestic eagerly waiting upon the results from this year’s
supply potential of the Beetaloo, however, the handful of planned wells.™

P12 www. NEWSBASE .com Week 02 15•January•2021