Billionaire investor in Beetaloo as drilling begins at new Tamboran well

A billionaire Texan and Beetaloo investor has spoken of the potential benefits of the gas industry.

American billionaire Bryan Sheffield, the largest single investor in Tamboran Resources’ Beetaloo shale gas project, has visited the NT to check out his asset.

Mr Sheffield, once billed as the youngest billionaire in the United States, paid $102m for a 15 per cent stake in Tamboran Resources and has also invested $8m with fellow-Beetaloo explorer Empire Energy.

A third-generation oil and gas executive who formed Daly Waters Energy LP when he invested in the Beetaloo Sheffield, 45, travelled to Tamboran’s Shenandoah South prospect on Tuesday to watch the start of drilling with the giant H&P rig that arrived in Darwin in May.

During a presentation to Energy Club NT at Mindil Beach Casino on Monday night, Mr Sheffield spoke of the potential for gas projects to grow economies in regional and remote areas.

Empire Energy's Alex Underwood, Tamboran Resources investor Bryan Sheffield and Tamboran Resources chief executive Joel Riddle at the Energy Club on Monday.

He said during the Texas gas boom of the early 2000s, nondescript towns in the desert suddenly saw populations flourish from “virtually nothing” to thousands as regional economies took on a life of their own.

Mr Sheffield said his confidence in the Beetaloo Basin project rested in his belief that the use of gas as a transitional fuel, known in the US as a ‘bridge’, will continue in some form for decades.

“It’s a long bridge,” he told guests at the dinner.

He said while some big energy investors might have been “spooked” by anti-fracking campaigns and the politics of green energy, relatively smaller players like him were taking advantage.

“The reality is we’ll still be drilling holes for a long time,” he said.

APPEA NT director David Slama said Mr Sheffield’s comments pointed to the benefits shale gas operations can deliver to economies, particularly ones with a small motor like the Territory’s.

APPEA NT director David Slama.

“He underpinned the importance of the Beetaloo Basin and low carbon gas that’s available here in the Northern Territory,” Mr Slama said.

“The Beetaloo has scale of significance and the fact we’re still attracting US investment to a large degree delivers confidence we’re on the right track.”

Valued by Forbes magazine at $1.3bn in 2017, Mr Sheffield is from a third-generation oil family who until 2021 ran Parsley Energy which had been started by his grandfather in west Texas.

The Shenandoah South is expected to take 45 days to drill including a pilot well and 1000m horizontal section.

Tamboran is targeting first domestic gas sales from the pilot development by the end of 2025.

Originally published as Billionaire investor in Beetaloo as drilling begins at new Tamboran well