- 01Beetaloo wins 605sq km Carpentaria licence.
- 02RL11 covers 1,739PJ 2C and 3,542PJ 2U resources.
- 03Supports appraisal gas sales; AGIG studies Darwin pipeline.
The Northern Territory mining regulator has granted Beetaloo Energy Australia (ASX: BTL) a 605-square-kilometre retention licence over the Carpentaria unconventional shale gas fairway located in the onshore Beetaloo Sub-basin within the larger Greater McArthur Basin.
Retention Licence 11 (RL11) holds the tenure for the company while it evaluates the stacked shales of the Velkerri Formation and determines the optimal approach to full development of the fairway’s 1,739 petajoules best estimate (2C) contingent resources and 3,542PJ best estimate (2U) prospective resources.
Awarded to Beetaloo subsidiary Imperial Oil & Gas, the licence will underpin operation of the Carpentaria gas plant and the sale of appraisal gas under Beetaloo’s 10-year gas sales agreement with the Northern Territory government.
Beetaloo has previously obtained approval, consent, and agreement with the Northern Land Council (on behalf of the traditional owners) for the sale or other beneficial use of petroleum recovered on an appraisal basis and this remains in force.
A beneficial use of gas approval held over the same part of EP187 has also been obtained for RL11, allowing petroleum recovered on an appraisal basis to be sold or otherwise beneficially used.
Highly Prospective Tenements
Beetaloo Energy holds 80% equity in 28.9 million acres of highly prospective exploration tenements in the NT’s McArthur basin and Beetaloo sub-basin.
Work conducted by the company since 2010 has demonstrated that McArthur’s eastern depositional trough has significant conventional and unconventional hydrocarbon potential while the sub-basin is thought to contain recoverable shale dry gas volumes of over 100 trillion cubic feet, with liquids upside.
Although yet to be proven, the scale of the estimated resource is believed to compare favourably with the scale of resources along Australia’s offshore North West Shelf.
RL11 may be renewed in successive five-year terms and ultimately, could provide a pathway to a production licence under the Territory’s Petroleum Act 1984.
Infrastructure Initiative
Managing director Alex Underwood said the same security of tenure underpins the $40 billion Beetaloo Digital infrastructure initiative focused on building a large-scale AI and high-performance computing data centre precinct near Darwin combining reliable gas-fired generation, renewable energy, and next-generation cooling technology.
The company recently signed an agreement with Australian Gas Infrastructure Group (AGIG) to conduct preliminary assessments on a gas pipeline from the Carpentaria project to future demand centres in Darwin.
Under the terms, AGIG will lead the design and planning of a 750km gas pipeline and associated infrastructure to supply the Beetaloo Digital project located within the government’s proposed Territory Energy Link common user infrastructure corridor.
The agreement follows the award of exclusivity over 1.85 sq km of strategic land in the community of Waddell for the digital data centre opportunity that will bring together Beetaloo’s upstream gas resources and AGIG’s experience in developing, owning, and operating gas transmission infrastructure.
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