US oil producer Apache has become the latest overseas player to enter Australia’s emerging shale sector, joining Buru Energy in an exploration venture in the onshore Canning Basin, a promising region that has already attracted giants ConocoPhillips and PetroChina.

Apache, which until now has been firmly focused offshore Western Australia for its exploration and drilling, has chosen a relatively low-cost entry point to take stakes in Buru’s permits in the coastal and eastern desert part of the Canning Basin.