Tamboran Resources says it is edging closer to first gas from the Beetaloo Basin, with CFO Eric Dyer telling investors the company is now "on the cusp" of converting years of exploration into what it hopes will become Australia's first commercial onshore unconventional gas project. 

Speaking at an Energy Club NT event in Darwin last night, Dyer said Tamboran's Shenandoah South pilot development – designed to supply the Northern Territory market as output from the ageing Blacktip gas field declines – had cleared several key hurdles, including final investment approval, traditional owner consent and the drilling of three horizontal pilot wells. 

"We are de-risking it constantly," Dyer said.

"The data proves itself…this is the first economic shale project in Australia." 

Over the past year, Tamboran has strengthened its balance sheet through a combination of equity raisings and asset sales, providing sufficient funding to drill, complete and test its pilot wells and advance processing and transport infrastructure. The company has also flagged that substantially larger capital commitments will be required as it shifts from pilot output to sustained, multi-well production. 

The pilot project has attracted support from major international oilfield services groups, including Baker Hughes and Liberty Energy, which are supplying drilling and hydraulic fracturing equipment for the Beetaloo campaign. Tamboran says the deployment of modern shale technology has underpinned record drilling performance in the Territory. 

Equally critical is the transport pathway. Tamboran has secured a connection to market via the 37-kilometre Sturt Plateau Pipeline, being built by APA Group, which will link the Beetaloo to the existing Amadeus Gas Pipeline. Construction is underway, with APA targeting early-2026 commissioning, enabling first commercial gas deliveries to the Territory around mid-2026. 

Infrastructure delivery and funding remain the project's main execution risks. While the pilot project is financed, investors are closely watching whether drilling, flow testing, compression facilities and pipeline timelines remain aligned as Tamboran attempts to transition from appraisal into production. 

The stakes extend well beyond the Northern Territory. Tamboran ultimately wants to push gas into the east coast market, where structural shortfalls are forecast later this decade as legacy Queensland and Victorian fields decline. Success in the Beetaloo would add a new onshore supply source into a tightening domestic gas system. 

Dyer said Beetaloo gas could play a dual role, underpinning Territory energy security while also supporting the energy transition on the eastern seaboard by displacing higher-emissions coal-fired generation. 

"Gas is about 70% less CO₂-intensive than coal," he said.

"Every coal-fired power station on the east coast is under stress… gas can be there to solve it." 

Tamboran's longer-term ambitions reach further still. The company has secured land at Darwin's Middle Arm industrial precinct and is studying options for processing, energy-intensive industry and, potentially, LNG exports linked to future fibre-optic cable landfalls and data-centre development in the Top End. 

Source: Energy News Bulletin