Origin re-starts Beetaloo gas hopes in NT
Origin Energy has resumed production testing on its Kyalla well in the NT’s Beetaloo Basin as momentum builds for the new gas frontier.
Origin Energy is moving ahead with production testing at its Beetaloo Basin gas project in the Northern Territory as the next step in working up a commercial project with greenhouse gas emissions to be offset from the exploration phase.
The energy producer discovered liquids rich gas in January at its Kyalla exploration well near Daly Waters in the Beetaloo with work then paused for the wet season.
Activity has now resumed with production testing to take place following the well being successfully drilled and fracture stimulated.
“Analysis of the initial Kyalla results showed valuable liquids rich gas is present,” said Chris White, Origin’s general manager for Beetaloo and Growth Assets.
The project has also bought carbon credits to offset greenhouse gas emissions from this year’s planned exploration activity with some 9500 carbon credits generated in the NT by an Aboriginal savanna burning project near the Beetaloo Basin.
Origin, which runs the Beetaloo development with Falcon Energy, said later this year it would drill a new vertical well targeting liquids rich gas into a second shale formation called Velkerri along with a further production test at its Amungee well.
The Beetaloo site, 500km south east of Darwin, is being considered as both an export opportunity and a major contributor to east coast gas volumes.
Questions have been raised over the process of obtaining informed consent from local land owners along with concerns over the fracking process on land and water supplies across the sprawling 18,500 sqkm site.
But Origin has criticised activist groups critical of the development and said traditional owners who have agreed to allow exploration were “horrified” over claims the gas industry was not welcome in the region.
Rival developers in the Beetaloo include Tamboran Resources which is targeting an aggressive drilling plan covering eight wells by 2023 with an aim of supplying gas by 2024 before forecast shortages hit the east coast.
Tamboran is targeting gas supplies at about $6-$8 a gigajoule, which would make it competitive with existing supplies and potentially cheaper than a slew of LNG import plants dotted through NSW, Victoria and South Australia.
It’s also plotting a route to market as part of a $6bn plan to open up the Beetaloo for east coast users and Darwin LNG exports via a pact with distributor Jemena.