Bugger Beetaloo
Sometimes it’s good when the international press comes calling on an Australian issue. Sometimes it’s bad. Like Bloomberg today. Once considered too remote and expensive, Beetaloo has gained significance as Australia faces looming east-coast gas shortages. Developers estimate the resource could be worth more than US$6 trillion at current Asian LNG prices. Tamboran ultimately targets The post…
The remote Australian site of Beetaloo gas field has garnered attention from the global press as Australia grapples with potential east-coast gas shortages. With an estimated value surpassing US$6 trillion at prevailing Asian LNG rates, the resource could meet roughly half of Australia's present gas usage. However, transporting this gas to the east coast would necessitate the construction of extensive new pipeline infrastructure, while exporting it through Darwin would necessitate expanding current facilities.
Tamboran, the project developer, is also contemplating the supply of gas to Inpex Corp.'s Ichthys LNG terminal or Santos Ltd.'s Darwin LNG plant. Yet, the financial viability of this plan is marred by the fact that Beetaloo gas is significantly pricier than existing reserves in South Australia and Queensland, which were unjustly appropriated by gas cartels Santos and its GLNG partners.
These entities diverted 996PJ of gas to China over the past decade, gas that could have been sold in Melbourne for $6-7Gj instead of the artificially inflated price. Moreover, Santos and GLNG had already extracted another 500PJ from the Cooper Basin, gas that could have been profitably sold in Melbourne at $5Gj. Shipping Beetaloo gas to Melbourne and Sydney would incur additional costs of around $15Gj, an exorbitant markup compared to today's average gas prices.
Critics argue that this scenario represents a cynical exploitation of the energy transition and a significant driver of inflation, with the potential to wreak long-term economic damage on the nation.
Written by urgent.news from MacroBusiness's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
