Tamboran announced the arrival of a new mobile shale gas drill rig, the 'Flex Rig 3', on Friday.
The rig, developed by Helmerich & Payne in the United States, marks a turning point for Tamboran and its joint venture partners as they ramp up shale gas production in the Bettaloo Sub-basin in the Northern Territory.
The Beetaloo Sub-basin, located 500 km southeast of Darwin, is estimated to contain 500 trillion cubic feet of gas. The Northern Territory government estimates that it produce 6,300 jobs by 2040 and increase economic activity between $18.0 billion and $36.8 billion over the same period.
The resource estimates are equivalent to more than 1,000 times the current annual domestic consumption in Australia or the amount of energy required to drive a car 483 million kilometres.
The development of the Beetaloo Basin, one of the world's largest undeveloped shale gas fields, has been the subject of intense scrutiny by the Northern Territory government as well as environmental groups.
On Wednesday the NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles approved full-scale gas production in the Beetaloo Basin, marking the end of a five-year moratorium on fracking. The lifting of the ban was contingent on the NT government's implementation of all 135 recommendations from the 2018 Pepper Inquiry, which sought to address the risks associated with fracking. At least one Traditional Owner group says the recommendations have not been fully implemented.
In announcing the arrival of the Flex Rig 3, Tamboran Managing Director and CEO, Joel Riddle, said the company "welcomes the Northern Territory Government's announcement that the 135 Pepper Inquiry recommendations have been fully implemented".
"This gives industry the certainty to import and invest in the latest shale technology and equipment, including H&P FlexRig," he said.
Mr Riddle noted that Tamboran "has already initiated discussions with various high-quality gas buyers for volumes of gas for 200-300 terajoule of gas per day from later this decade."
"Contracting this gas will be critical in enabling the approval of their 1 billion cubic feet per day development plan."
However, the Central Australian Frack Free Alliance (Caffa) has launched a legal challenge to the Northern Territory government's decision to approve drilling and fracking in the Beetaloo Basin.
The group is asking the NT Supreme Court to review the process that led to the approval of Tamboran's environmental management plan, arguing that the environment Minister failed to properly consider the environmental impacts of the project. Caffa have said they will argue that the Minister failed to fully consider the climate consequences of the project, including the climate effects of future production in the Beetaloo that the exploration may facilitate.
The government and the company anticipate the development of the Beetaloo Basin will create thousands of direct and indirect jobs, and hundreds of millions of dollars in royalties will be paid to Traditional Owners and the Northern Territory Government.
