Industry News

Empire Energy Group Limited (“Empire” or “the Company”) (ABN 29 002 148 361) is pleased to advise a new Company name and ASX Code.

At the 2025 Annual General Meeting held on 29 May 2025, a special resolution was passed by Shareholders to change the name of the Company to Beetaloo Energy Australia Limited.

The change of name process is now complete.

The change of name will take effect on the ASX from commencement of trading on Wednesday 18^th June 2025 at which time the ASX code will migrate from EEG to BTL.

In accordance with ASX Listing Rule 15.4, shareholder approval will be sought at the General Meeting to be held in July 2025 on a date to be announced to update the Company’s Constitution for the change of name.

There will be no change to the Company’s ABN.

The Company will migrate to a new website beetalooenergy.com in the coming days.

Source: Beetaloo Energy Australia

The Finocchiaro CLP Government is injecting $3.9 million into NT resource exploration, awarding 38 grants to 30 companies through the latest Geophysics and Drilling Collaborations (GDC) program.

Round 18 of the program is supporting 38 projects through the $9.5 million Resourcing the Territory initiative, which accelerates exploration, discovery and local jobs.

Minister for Mining and Energy Gerard Maley said the grants demonstrate the Territory Government’s strong commitment to rebuilding the economy through responsible resource development.

The Territory’s value of mineral production in 2023/24 was $4.32 billion.

The mining sector forms the greatest contributor to the Territory’s own-sourced revenue from eight operating mines, and millions of dollars spent annually on mineral exploration.

“This flagship program gives companies a clear incentive to invest in exploration here in the Territory, rather than interstate,” said Mr Maley.

“It also rewards those willing to innovate and test new techniques to unlock the Territory’s vast mineral potential and bring forward the next wave of discoveries.”

The successful applicants include 14 greenfields drilling programs, 6 brownfields diamond drilling programs, 10 regional geophysical surveys, 7 innovative targeting projects, and one project under the advancing critical minerals category.

Eleven of the successful companies have never received co-funding before.

More than half of the co-funded projects are targeting critical minerals, including copper, rare earth elements, lithium, and fluorite, which places the Territory in a strong position to support the global transition to low-emissions economy through green technology.

“It’s encouraging to see the majority of these co-funded programs focusing on the critical minerals that are essential to the global energy transition,” said Mr Maley.

“These projects will help build the Territory’s critical minerals pipeline, support local jobs, and drive long-term economic growth.”

Nine of the co-funded projects will provide work for locally based contractors providing services such as earthworks, drilling, and laboratory analysis, with approximately $88,900 awarded for the Territory Supplier Incentive (TSI) funding.

The Territory Suppler Incentive provides up to $10,000 per project in additional funding to support service and supply by Territory-based companies.

Copper was the most commonly targeted commodity, featuring in nearly one-third of successful applications.

Other projects are targeting gold, uranium, diamonds and hydrocarbons, highlighting the diverse resource potential of the Territory.

The Fraser Institute’s Annual Survey of Mining Companies consistently ranks the Northern Territory among the world’s top jurisdictions for mineral potential, something the Finocchiaro CLP Government is actively working to leverage for the benefit of all Territorians.

“We are committed to making the Northern Territory the best place in Australia for exploration, private investment, and job creation,” said Mr Maley.

More information and the full list of successful grant recipients is available at: https://resourcingtheterritory.nt.gov.au/exploration-grants.

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom

At the 2025 Decommissioning & Abandonment (D&A) Conference in Perth, Shane McWhinney from the Department of Industry, Science and Resources (DISR) provided a significant update on the Commonwealth-managed decommissioning of the Northern Endeavour FPSO.

Power was successfully restored to the vessel on Tuesday evening, ending a seven-week outage that began on 22 April—just days after the completion of a major riser cutting campaign. The unexpected shutdown was caused by simultaneous issues: planned maintenance on the main generators and a failure of the emergency diesel generator.

“We were feeling pretty confident after the riser campaign—then just days later, the power went completely out,” McWhinney said. “But we got it back on. It took seven weeks, and now we’re back in action.”

Despite the loss of power and the need to evacuate the vessel, DISR was able to maintain momentum by continuing hull cleaning operations during the outage. This was made possible after securing a new safety case from NOPSEMA, the national offshore energy regulator.

Now with power restored, the project is entering a critical phase. The team is only months away from cutting the mooring chains that currently secure the FPSO in place. Once detached, the vessel will be towed to Singapore, selected as the safest and most cost-effective location to complete hull cleaning and seaworthiness preparation, using both wet and dry docks.

Following this, the FPSO will be loaded onto a Costco heavy-lift vessel and transported to its final decommissioning site—still to be confirmed.

As the dismantling phase progresses, the focus will shift to seabed remediation, involving the cleanup and safe abandonment of extensive subsea infrastructure. According to McWhinney, there are:

• 9 subsea wells

• 7 Christmas trees

• 50 km of flowlines

• 20 km of umbilicals

• 3 subsea manifolds

• 9 mooring chains in 3 groups

• 9 suction pile anchors

This major decommissioning project, triggered by the 2020 collapse of Northern Oil & Gas Australia (NOGA), is being closely watched across the industry for its regulatory, environmental, and cost implications. The restoration of power marks a major step forward toward finalising this complex and high-profile operation.

Source: Energy News Bulletin

The Commission has published its 2025-26 Priorities, which sets out what the Commission will focus on over the next financial year.

The Commission’s 2025-26 Priorities align with its Strategic Plan.

Source: Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory

Empire Energy Group Limited (“Empire” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce the appointment of Alexander Hunter as Chief Financial Officer effective 3 June 2025.

Mr Hunter has 20 years’ experience in the energy and resources sector with a focus on corporate finance, mergers and acquisitions, capital raising and corporate financial management. He has worked for the past six years providing corporate finance and M&A consulting services to listed and unlisted energy and mining companies. He has held senior executive roles in ASX listed companies including Chief Financial Officer of Elk Petroleum and General Manager of Business Development for Drillsearch Energy.

In these roles he was instrumental in rationalising and growing the businesses through successful asset sales and acquisitions, equity and debt capital raisings, public market mergers and takeovers, post-merger integration and growth of the business finance teams & financial management capabilities.

Mr Hunter was previously a senior executive at RFC Ambrian where he specialised in resources, energy and industrial company mergers and acquisitions and capital raising. Prior to his career in finance, he held engineering and project management roles in civil construction and infrastructure development projects in Australia.

He has a Bachelor of Engineering, an MBA from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business and holds postgraduate qualifications in applied finance business law.

The deep experience and skills that Mr Hunter brings to the company will be critical as Empire transitions to Beetaloo Basin gas producer. Robin Polson has retired from the role of Chief Financial Officer. Mr Polson joined Empire as a commercial advisor to the Company in September 2021 and was appointed as Chief Financial Officer in July 2022.

During his tenure, Mr Polson played a critical role in the negotiation of Empire’s gas sales agreement with the Northern Territory Government, under which Empire will supply up to 25 TJ / day to the local NT market for up to 10 years. Mr Polson played an important role in negotiating and executing the $65 million credit facility with Macquarie Bank Limited which is supporting the development of the Carpentaria Pilot Project, and in the successful completion of our US asset divestiture program, as a result of which Empire is now a Beetaloo / McArthur Basin pure play.

Comments from Managing Director Alex Underwood:

“We are delighted that Alex Hunter is joining Empire Energy at such a crucial time for the company. As we transition to gas production the company operations will continue to grow in both scale and complexity, and Alex brings the right mix of corporate and commercial experience to help the Empire team deliver that growth and create value for Empire shareholders. We thank Robin Polson for his dedicated service to the Company over the last 4 years, a period during which Empire has materially progressed from explorer towards the commencement of production. The entire Empire team wishes Robin well.”

Source: ASX ANNOUNCEMENT

The Finocchiaro CLP Government welcomes the growing petroleum investment and exploration activity in the Northern Territory’s gas sector, as a vote of confidence in the Territory’s attractive regulatory environment and world-class natural resources.

This week, Echelon Resources announced it had completed the acquisition of 100% interest and ownership of petroleum Exploration Permit (EP) 145, located in the Amadeus Basin in Central Australia.

Minister for Mining and Energy Gerard Maley said the CLP Government’s year of action, certainty, and security is being realised, with strong momentum in the energy sector.

“Acquisitions like this show that industry has real confidence in the Northern Territory and the clear, consistent approach the CLP Government is delivering,” said Mr Maley.

“We’re providing the certainty investors and proponents need to back projects that create jobs, grow the economy, and bring real benefits to communities across the Territory.”

Echelon Resources, an agile Australasian-focused energy exploration and production company based in Wellington, New Zealand, acquired EP145 from London Stock Exchange-listed Mosman Oil & Gas.

Echelon is already a key partner in the Territory’s gas-producing Mereenie, Palm Valley, and Dingo fields, which underpin the local gas industry.

Situated near the Mereenie gas field, EP145 presents significant potential for new resource exploration and development, benefiting from proximity to existing infrastructure.

Echelon Resources has also announced that in 2026 it will acquire a geophysical survey over part of EP145, in the form of a 3-dimensional or 3D seismic survey.

 These surveys allow explorers to visualise the subsurface in three dimensions, making it easier to target and model potential accumulations of gas compared to conventional 2D seismic surveys.

Echelon’s intent is to tie any such gas resources into nearby existing infrastructure and supply it to the Northern Territory gas market as soon as possible.

This 3D survey will be the largest acquired to date in the Amadeus Basin, which has been producing gas consistently since the 1980’s.

“I look forward to seeing the outcomes of Echelon’s exploration efforts and wish them success as they continue to build on the Territory’s status as a leading energy hub in Central Australia,” said Minister Maley.

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom

The floating production, storage and offloading (FPSO) unit to be put to work by Santos is on its way from Singapore to the Barossa field. 

Fully commissioned and ready for offshore deployment, the BW Opal left Seatrium's Tuas Boulevard Yard on May 28 to be tugged to the waters off Australia's Northern Territory.

According to BW Offshore, hook-up operations are set to start as soon as the vessel arrives at the destination and will be followed by the start-up phase, which includes offshore commissioning, well clean-up, and preparation for gas export, targeted for Q3 2025.  

The BW Opal is set to have a 25-year offshore lifespan. 

The vessel is 358m long and 64m wide and has 230 MW of installed power, gas processing facilities of 850 million standard cubic feet per day, as well as the capacity to process 11,000 barrels per day of stabilised condensate. 

According to Seatrium, efficiencies and modern tech on the FPSO will cut greenhouse gas emissions by 15% compared to traditional systems, translating to a reduction of up to 2.3 million tonnes of CO2 emissions over the asset's life. 

In April this year, Santos finally secured a critical element of regulatory approval for its $5.8 billion Barossa gas project, as NOPSEMA signed off on a key pipeline production plan. The approval allowed Santos to begin final commissioning activities, bringing the long-delayed project a step closer to first gas.  

At the time a Santos spokesperson confirmed to Energy News Bulletin "Barossa remains on track for first gas in the third quarter of 2025 and within cost guidance."  

The environment plan for production operations accepted by NOPSEMA covers six subsea wells connected to the soon to arrive BW Opal vessel. 

Under its EP, gas will be piped 262 kilometres to the Darwin LNG facility, replacing supply from the aging Bayu-Undan field. At the same time, condensate will be offloaded by tanker. 

Source: Energy New Bulletin

The 2025 Australian Energy Producers Conference and Exhibition has been an important opportunity to showcase the Northern Territory’s critical role in Australia’s energy future. 

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro used the opportunity to reinforce the reform which has been delivered by her new government to deliver confidence and certainty.

“The feedback we received is that the economic and regulatory reform we have delivered in just nine months is restoring investor confidence," said Mrs Finocchiaro.

Speaking at the conference as part of a panel on gas exploration and the economy, Mrs Finocchiaro reinforced that the Territory is open for business.

“It is clear that momentum is building, and all eyes are looking north to the Territory," she said.

Deputy Chief Minister Gerard Maley hosted an industry breakfast showcasing the Beetaloo to a packed room of people who were eager to learn more about the strategic advantages and benefits of Territory gas. 

“The strong turnout at the NT Minister’s Breakfast with Beetaloo, which is the first NT-focused event to be held at the AEP conference in several years, shows just how much interest there is in Territory gas and the enormous potential of the Beetaloo Sub-basin,” said Mr Maley.

"We heard directly from Beetaloo gas industry leaders Empire Energy, Santos, Tamboran Resources and Daly Waters Energy who all backed in our government’s pro-gas, pro-business approach and the reforms we’ve made to help them attract capital investment and bring the Beetaloo into production. 

"This conference also gave us the chance to engage with major players from the US shale gas industry such as Liberty Energy and Halliburton who are bringing decades of experience to the Territory to help unlock the Beetaloo’s full potential. 

"Having a strong NT delegation including myself, the Chief Minister, Department executives, and the Territory Coordinator sent a clear message to the energy sector: we’re serious about making the NT a key player in powering the nation, with the most cost-effective, timely, and emissions friendly potential solution to the emerging East Coast gas crisis.”

Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said: "It was a pleasure to host the Northern Territory Government at the Australian Energy Producers Conference and Exhibition in Brisbane this week."

"The Chief Minister has made it clear that the Territory is open for business and is leading by example in removing regulatory barriers and providing certainty for investment," she said.

"The NT Government recognises natural gas is essential to the Territory’s economic growth and energy security; powering homes, industry, and supporting thousands of local jobs. 

"Projects like the Barossa development and the Beetaloo Basin are key to accelerating economic growth and delivering reliable and affordable energy for Territorians." 

Mrs Finocchiaro added: "Our message was clear, as part of our year of action, certainty and security we are restoring confidence and certainty in the future of the Territory."

"Territorians know that we have everything this country needs to deliver affordable, reliable and cleaner energy; this conference gave us the opportunity to showcase that on the national and international stage," she said. 

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom

The Finocchiaro CLP Government has today reaffirmed its commitment to the Territory Energy Link – a proposed multi-user, multi-asset infrastructure corridor stretching from Elliott to Darwin.

A tender has been awarded to provide on-demand specialist technical advice to the project team.

This expert support will drive corridor planning and pipeline development, ensuring the 670km priority section is development-ready by 2028.

Formerly known as the Tennant Creek to Darwin Infrastructure Corridor, the Territory Energy Link project will deliver a buried services corridor designed to carry gas, water, optical fibre, hydrogen and other utilities critical to the Territory’s future.

Minister for Logistics and Infrastructure Bill Yan said the project was a flagship initiative in the CLP Government’s year of action, certainty and security.

"The Territory Energy Link is the kind of enabling infrastructure that delivers real outcomes – not just talk,” said Mr Yan.

“It will connect the Beetaloo to Darwin and the world, laying the foundations for billions in investment and thousands of local jobs.”

The Territory Energy Link is key to unlocking private investment and accelerating projects that will rebuild the Northern Territory economy, especially in and around the Beetaloo Sub-Basin.

Minister for Mining and Energy Gerard Maley said: "The Territory Energy Link project reflects our government’s strategic and proactive approach to attracting and facilitating major, generational investments in the Northern Territory, through energy, infrastructure and logistics programs.

"Securing of tenure is commonly cited as one of the largest material risks to project viability by proponents, and our government has pledged to provide certainty and security to industry and investors, to unlock decades of prosperity for Territorians,” said Mr Maley.

The project will support the coordinated development of gas, hydrogen and critical minerals industries, while also future-proofing infrastructure for services like water and fibre optics.

“This isn’t just pipes in the ground. It’s about building confidence, securing jobs, and ensuring the Territory leads the nation in next-generation energy and infrastructure,” said Mr Yan.

As part of the CLP Government’s plan to rebuilding the economy, the Territory Energy Link delivers long-term economic and strategic benefits for the Territory, and Australia.

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom

His Honour Professor the Honourable Hugh Heggie AO PSM, Administrator of the Northern Territory, has appointed Stuart Knowles as the Territory Coordinator.

Mr Knowles has been acting in the role since November last year.

Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said Mr Knowles' appointment as Territory Coordinator for four years meant the government could focus on delivering its promise to rebuild the economy.

“Stuart has extensive experience across both private and public sectors and brings a wealth of local knowledge through his deep connections and understanding of the Northern Territory’s unique challenges and opportunities," she said.

"In our year of action, certainty and security we are charging ahead with rebuilding the economy and the Territory Coordinator has a crucial role to play."

In March, the CLP Government passed the Territory Coordinator Bill in Parliament, delivering on its commitment to streamline decision-making and ensure a more coordinated response to supporting significant and complex developments in the Territory.

“The Territory Coordinator strengthens our ability to deliver economic growth, attract investment, and streamline processes," said Mrs Finocchiaro.

The Territory Coordinator will work closely with government agencies, industry, and key stakeholders to prioritise projects, facilitate approvals, and ensure the Territory remains competitive on a national and global stage.

The Territory Coordinator legislation underwent rigorous consultation with industry, community groups, and key stakeholders to ensure it delivers real benefits for Territorians.

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom