Beetaloo Energy Australia has continued to crank up its operations in the Northern Territory, with flow testing at its Carpentaria-5H (C-5H) gas well delivering peak rates of more than 14 terajoules per day and showing consistent, strong gas flows during testing.
The positive well test results come as the company confirms construction of its Carpentaria gas plant is proceeding on time and on budget, keeping its pilot project firmly on track to deliver first gas sales in the fourth quarter of this year.
Flow testing of the C-5H well, which kicked off in mid-June, has settled to an average rate of 7 terajoules per day and is currently producing around 6.7 terajoules per day.
Management says the low decline rate is a highly encouraging sign, in contrast to similar basins in the United States, which often exhibit a rapid decrease in production after initial high rates.
The company says the well continues to clean up, with flowback water volumes dropping from around 1300 to 500 barrels per day, leading to an increasingly gas-dominated output.
Promisingly, Beetaloo says it expects to achieve an initial 30-day production rate by mid-July.
In a move to drive down future costs, Beetaloo says it has also executed a $10.4 million loan agreement with Territory Sands to fund the development of the first in-basin frac sand mine. The deal gives Beetaloo priority access to the critical stimulation ingredient at market-competitive pricing, which will significantly reduce sand supply costs for future wells and improve economics in larger-scale developments.
In the company’s western permits, a seismic acquisition program has now fired up, designed to delineate a massive resource the company believes could exceed 20 trillion cubic feet (Tcf), potentially supporting a multi-decade, LNG-scale drilling inventory.
Beetaloo Energy Australia managing director Alex Underwood said: “We are on track to commence gas sales from the Carpentaria Pilot Project in Q4 2026. The interim results we are seeing from the Carpentaria-5H flow test are highly encouraging. We have been pleasantly surprised by the very low rate of decline in gas rates while the well continues to clean up."
Beetaloo Energy controls a massive 28.9-million-acre landholding across the Northern Territory's McArthur and Beetaloo sub-basins, where it has already outlined a substantial 2C contingent resource of more than 1.6Tcf of gas and an eye-watering 2U prospective resource exceeding 46Tcf equivalent.
The company says it remains well-funded for the next stage of its growth, having recently raised $66 million through a strongly supported placement and secured an upsized $45 million midstream infrastructure facility, with management insisting the fresh capital is enough to carry the business through to its first pilot gas sales.
The Beetaloo Basin is quickly shaping up as Australia's next major gas province, with an estimated $1 billion expected to be invested across the region over the next 18 months by industry heavyweights including INPEX, Santos and Tamboran Resources.
At full scale, the basin is widely tipped to supply the east coast gas market for decades and help ease looming domestic gas shortages.
Importantly, with production wells refusing to taper off, Beetaloo believes it may end up drilling significantly fewer replacement wells, cutting development costs and supercharging long-term project economics.
Add in a gas plant under construction to bring first production forward and a smart frac sand deal that cuts development costs, the company looks to be steadily removing the key risks from its project.
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By Andrew Todd
