The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association’s (APPEA) NT Director, David Slama, has shed light on the Beetaloo Basin’s potential to help fuel the nation’s journey towards net zero by 2050 in the Australian Territorian.
“With an estimated 180,000 petajoules of gas – more than 1000 times Australia’s current annual domestic consumption – the Basin is one of the world’s largest known opportunities to develop onshore gas reserves,” said Slama.
He said that making the Beetaloo Basin an opportunity to develop a resources sector that can be just as important to the Northern Territory’s economy as those powerhouse regions just across the border.
“Nearby, Western Australia has the Pilbara and Queensland has the Bowen Basin,” said Slama.
“The Beetaloo could be that important for our economy, boosting the gas industry’s already intrinsic relationship with NT life.”
According to Slama, research indicates that the development of the Beetaloo could create up to 6300 jobs and deliver $1 billion a year in total revenue to the NT government by 2040.
“One in every 11 jobs in the NT is supported by the gas industry supply chain, from offshore rig workers to gas fitters in the suburbs of Darwin,” Slama said.
New gas supply, like that in the Beetaloo Basin, could be critical to reaching net zero by 2050 as it can replace higher emitting fuels like coal, back up rising renewable generation for electricity, support major industries and be a boon and feedstock to hydrogen.
Slama explained that as the nation progresses toward further lowering emissions and net zero by 2050, the Northern Territory’s oil and gas industry will continue to embrace the transition as an opportunity. He said that the industry will continue to work with stakeholders, investors, governments, and the community.
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