Amadeus Basin should get priority over Beetaloo in federal government gas basin plan, says Central Petroleum boss

THE NT’s largest onshore gas producer says the Amadeus Gas Basin near Alice Springs should be at the forefront of the federal government’s new key gas basin strategy.

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THE NT’s largest onshore gas producer says the Amadeus Gas Basin near Alice Springs should be at the forefront of the federal government’s new key gas basin strategy.

Central Petroleum says the Amadeus Basin is a proven producing area, having been in production for more than 30 years, and yet is relatively under-explored due to its distance to the east coast markets.

Central Petroleum supplies oil and gas from its Mereenie, Palm Valley and Dingo fields to domestic customers in the Territory and the wider Australian east coast market.

The Beetaloo Sub Basin will get top priority as the first of five strategic basin plans the Morrison government has earmarked for delivery to spearhead a gas-fired recovery for Australia.

The basin sits in the Sturt Plateau region, between Mataranka and Elliott.

Origin has resumed work at its Kyalla drill site in the Beetaloo Basin. Picture Supplied

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Central’s chairman, Wrix Gasteen, said Central supports the combination of practical initiatives to deliver more gas supply to the east coast market, with increased energy reliability through gas-fired generation in support of renewable energy.

Chief executive officer and managing director Leon Devaney said the Amadeus Basin has enormous upside, including some of Australia’s largest known onshore conventional gas leads and prospects.

“Central has around 200Pjs of uncontracted gas at its three operated gas fields in the Amadeus Basin,” he said.

“Significant gas resources in the NT such as the Amadeus Basin can be brought to the southeast markets sooner than many alternative proposals.”

Santos drilling at Mt Kitty in the Amadeus Basin in November 2014. Picture: Supplied

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Central has unveiled plans to progress the 950km AMGP to provide additional gas supplies to Sydney and Melbourne and the large east coast markets by a direct connection between the NT and the Moomba Gas Supply hub.

“This is a relatively advanced pipeline, having already completed FEED in 2015 and should be a key component of the National Gas Infrastructure Plan moving forward,” Mr Devaney said.