Beetaloo Energy has launched Beetaloo Digital, firing up an ambitious new growth engine after securing exclusive rights to a strategic Northern Territory site for a proposed AI data centre and energy precinct.
Management believes the move could transform the company from a gas producer into an integrated energy and digital infrastructure business.
The Northern Territory Government has granted Beetaloo’s new digital subsidiary exclusive rights over 185 hectares at Weddell, south of Darwin, allowing it to begin pre-front-end engineering and design studies. The company is also progressing concept work and negotiating with specialist consortium and joint venture partners.
Beetaloo plans to integrate Beetaloo Basin gas production, pipeline infrastructure and gas-fired power generation alongside hyperscale artificial intelligence and cloud data centres to form a single vertically integrated business.
A one-gigawatt computing campus could require up to 200 terajoules of gas per day - eight times the Carpentaria pilot's initial design capacity of 25 terajoules per day. According to management, that level of demand could create a substantial enduring domestic market for the company's gas while supporting economic growth across the Territory.
Beetaloo says Weddell ticks all the right boxes, sitting alongside the proposed Darwin Energy Hub, the Territory’s planned Energy Link pipeline corridor and Darwin's subsea fibre-optic cable landing stations. The site provides direct links into Asia-Pacific digital markets while avoiding many of the grid and land constraints affecting Australia's eastern states.
According to management, the proposed AI data centre and energy precinct would become a net contributor to the Northern Territory electricity grid by exporting surplus power into the Darwin-Katherine network.
Beetaloo Energy managing director Alex Underwood said: “Hyperscale data centres and AI factories operate continuously, creating a durable, predictable demand profile that underpins long-term field development, accelerates upstream investment, and positions Beetaloo Digital as a potential sustained, large-scale cash flow generator for Beetaloo Energy.”
The company says it’s now in commercial discussions with prospective partners to advance the proposal towards financing and regulatory approvals.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro said developers were already circling because of the Territory’s combination of reliable Beetaloo gas, renewable energy, digital connectivity and proximity to Asia. She said those advantages, combined with NT’s strengths in defence, minerals and agriculture, were cementing its reputation as an increasingly attractive destination for major investment.
The Northern Territory Government believes the development could attract up to $40 billion in private investment, supporting two hyperscale AI campuses powered by as much as two gigawatts of on-site generation. The development could also create up to 5000 construction jobs and 350 ongoing operational roles if it proceeds.
Darwin is Australia's northern energy gateway, with major liquefied natural gas infrastructure, expanding pipeline networks and direct digital links into Asia. More than 90 per cent of Northern Territory electricity is generated from gas-fired power, making the proposed AI data centre and energy precinct a natural fit alongside the Territory's growing renewable energy ambitions.
The strategy is underpinned by Beetaloo's 100 per cent-owned position across a massive 28.9 million acres in the Beetaloo and McArthur sub-basins.
Having its hands on such a massive project gives the company flexibility to partner on downstream infrastructure while retaining control of its upstream gas resource. Its Carpentaria pilot project, which is close to firing up, will provide a near-term production platform. At the same time, the Western Beetaloo acreage offers exploration upside exceeding 20 trillion cubic feet of gas, subject to further seismic work and drilling.
At Carpentaria, work is gathering momentum. A recent 30-day production test averaged 6.9 terajoules of gas per day, reinforcing management's confidence in repeatable commercial flows from the low-carbon dioxide Velkerri shale.
The gas plant, now under construction, will be fed by three horizontal wells and underpin Beetaloo’s initial production phase, with first gas on track for the fourth quarter of 2026 under a 10-year Northern Territory gas sales agreement. Planned connection to the McArthur River pipeline will then complete the company’s transition from explorer to producer.
If realised, Beetaloo Digital could be the catalyst that unlocks a substantial new domestic market for its gas, accelerates basin-scale development and sets the stage for Beetaloo's next transformation - from upstream gas producer to an integrated energy and digital infrastructure business.
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By Penny Taylor
