{"id":341418,"date":"2025-12-11T09:55:11","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:55:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341418\/"},"modified":"2025-12-11T09:55:11","modified_gmt":"2025-12-11T09:55:11","slug":"gas-company-beetaloo-energy-clears-final-hurdle-for-fracking-in-the-beetaloo-basin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/341418\/","title":{"rendered":"Gas company Beetaloo Energy clears final hurdle for fracking in the Beetaloo Basin"},"content":{"rendered":"

Beetaloo Energy Australia has reached a final investment decision on its flagship fracking project in the Beetaloo Sub-basin less than a week after the Northern Territory government signed a deal to buy gas from the company.<\/p>\n

In an ASX announcement on Thursday the company, formerly known as Empire Energy, said its board had approved development of its Carpentaria Pilot Project \u2014 in which 10 additional fracking wells are in train \u2014 with gas sales targeted for 2026.<\/p>\n

Beetaloo Energy said the decision followed several recent milestones, including an agreement with traditional owners allowing the sale of appraisal gas, a gas supply deal with the NT government<\/a> and key environment approvals.<\/p>\n

Managing director Alex Underwood called the move a “landmark moment” and flagged that construction had also begun on the company’s Carpentaria gas plant.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Last week Gerard Maley told a media pack that “Beetaloo is going to be the place that’s going to save the territory”. (ABC News: Pete Garnish)<\/p>\n

Last week NT Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley raised concerns the territory could face a gas shortage and rolling blackouts<\/a>.<\/p>\n

He later hailed the Beetaloo Basin as a lifeline for the territory that would “literally keep the lights on”<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Another major player in the Beetaloo, Tamboran Resources, reached a final investment decision on its Shenandoah South Pilot Project in the Beetaloo Basin earlier this year.<\/p>\n

‘Serious interest’ from global players<\/p>\n

The development has been criticised by climate groups, who say they fear it marks the beginning of a “fracking rush” that could put the territory’s water supplies at risk.<\/p>\n

“The Finocchiaro government has gutted environmental regulation and stripped back the fracking code of practice \u2014 we can\u2019t trust them to protect the NT from the risks of fracking,” senior climate campaigner Bree Ahrens told the ABC.<\/p>\n

MST Financial’s senior energy analyst Saul Kavonic said the decision was “the first sign that the Beetaloo Basin is emerging as a gas producer”.<\/p>\n

Territorians urged to prepare for rolling blackouts<\/a><\/p>\n

Territorians are being urged to prepare for the possibility of blackouts over Christmas, after damaging winds from ex-Tropical Cyclone Fina forced the shutdown of the NT’s main gas supply.<\/p>\n

“For the first time this year I’ve heard some of the big global gas companies express serious interest in the Beetaloo,” he said.<\/p>\n

“We’re starting to see production from Beetaloo Energy and Tamboran, which will de-risk the play.<\/p>\n

“But also the global appetite to be investing in gas exploration is back again after being quite subdued for a number of years in the face of ESG [Environmental, Social and Governance] practices and climate concerns.”<\/p>\n

\"Trucks<\/p>\n

The NT government is hoping Beetaloo Basin gas exploration will deliver a thriving industry. (ABC News: Jane Bardon)<\/p>\n

But Mr Kavonic said it would likely take years and “require billions of dollars and the interest of a global gas company”, before the Beetaloo could realistically supply gas to the territory, solve the east coast gas crisis and export in volume.<\/p>\n

“It still suffers from being quite remote, distant from large-scale infrastructure and more limited supply chains,” he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Beetaloo Energy Australia has reached a final investment decision on its flagship fracking project in the Beetaloo Sub-basin…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":341419,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,148661,189609,189610,99,129841,28201,189612,8867,189611],"class_list":["post-341418","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-beetaloo-basin","tag-beetaloo-energy-australia","tag-beetaloo-sub-basin","tag-business","tag-empire-energy","tag-fracking","tag-fracking-in-the-nt","tag-northern-territory","tag-nt-gas-reserves"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341418","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=341418"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/341418\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/341419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=341418"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=341418"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=341418"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}