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Murray Ward
With the Northern Territory’s wet season now in the rear-view mirror, Beetaloo Energy is kicking its operations into high gear, launching a significant seismic survey in its western permits this month while simultaneously restarting flow tests at its impressive Carpentaria-5H well.
The upcoming 230-kilometre 2D seismic survey will be acquired by Velseis Integrated Seismic Technologies, with local company Wildman River Stock Contractors clearing access after land agreements were executed with pastoralists.
Although the survey is designed to target the same reservoir units as its Carpentaria project, it will test an area where management believes the key “B Shale” is significantly thicker, potentially building a multi-decade, LNG-scale drilling inventory.
At the same time, Beetaloo is preparing to kick off an extended production test of its Carpentaria-5H well in mid-June. The well previously delivered a peak gas flow rate of 11.2 terajoules per day and a solid 30-day average of 7.1 terajoules per day during clean-up testing late last year.
‘With multiple operational and exploration activities now underway, Beetaloo Energy is continuing to build momentum across the basin.’
Beetaloo Energy Australia managing director Alex Underwood
The company says the restart follows the successful installation of expanded water-handling infrastructure to manage water production during the test.
At the Carpentaria pilot project, activity is ramping up, with 40 personnel now on site. Civil works are now complete, and installation of the gas plant is ongoing following the first compressor being lifted into place. The final components, including the second compressor unit and intercooler, are now in transit from Roma, Queensland.
Gas gathering pipelines are also being laid to connect its C-2H, C-3H and C-5H wells to the plant, with first gas sales targeted for the fourth quarter of 2026.
Beetaloo Energy Australia managing director Alex Underwood said: “Following the end of the wet season, activity across the Beetaloo Basin has ramped up significantly as we continue progressing towards pilot production from our Carpentaria Pilot Project.”
Underpinning the operational push, the company has also strengthened its on-the-ground presence, welcoming three new key Darwin-based employees. Damian Woods has joined as operations superintendent for the Carpentaria project, while Andrew Lewis and Audrey Santiaguel have been appointed to the environmental and compliance team.
Beetaloo holds a 100 per cent interest across a massive 28.9 million acres of exploration ground in the Northern Territory’s McArthur and Beetaloo sub-basins. The ground hosts a significant 2C contingent resource of more than 1.6 trillion cubic feet of gas and a whopping 2U prospective resource of more than 46 trillion cubic feet equivalent.
The company also looks to be well-funded to execute its plans, having recently completed a strongly supported A$66 million placement and secured an upsized A$45 million midstream infrastructure facility with Macquarie Bank. Management says the capital injection fully funds the company through to its first pilot gas sales.
The Beetaloo Basin is rapidly emerging as Australia’s next great gas province, with corporate activity ramping up and an estimated A$1 billion set to be ploughed into the region over the next 18 months by heavyweight players including INPEX, Santos and Tamboran Resources.
At scale, the Beetaloo region is widely considered capable of supplying the east coast gas market for decades, with some industry estimates suggesting multi-decade coverage of forecast shortfalls if development reaches its full potential.
Beetaloo’s ground is particularly notable for its “stacked play” geology, which contains four separate shale reservoirs. The company says the formation is five times thicker than the similarly stacked and prolific Marcellus Shale in the US, offering the potential for significantly improved development efficiencies.
Adding to its commercial appeal, the gas is high-quality, with a carbon dioxide content of less than 1 per cent, reducing the need for costly processing.
With seismic crews mobilising in the west to outline a giant gas target in thicker shales and the taps about to be turned back on at its production-ready well in the east, Beetaloo is hitting its straps on two fronts.
The completion of key water infrastructure and the arrival of the final gas plant components show one program marching steadily towards near-term cash flow, while the other is reaching for a multi-trillion-cubic-foot prize that could underpin an LNG-scale development for decades.
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