Media Release: NT Budget lays groundwork to share Beetaloo benefits, accelerate to net zero

Today’s Northern Territory Budget helps progress development of the extraordinary opportunity of the Beetaloo Basin while accelerating net zero initiatives in the region’s cleaner energy future.

Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) NT Director David Slama said the Budget provided for a more sustainable energy future while helping secure the economic and energy security benefits of developing the Territory’s onshore natural gas resources.

“The Budget invests in critical infrastructure, supports economic growth and enables the energy transformation to net zero by providing a positive investment environment for business,” he said.

“It provides significant funding for important infrastructure such as new roads for industries like the gas sector to continue to deliver for Territorians, enabling job creation and investment.

“The oil and gas industry supports the additional funding for the Resourcing the Territory exploration program, delivering investment in the NT and supporting new energy supply with all of its benefits.

“New funding for accelerated development of a low-carbon hydrogen industry is also welcome as a key pillar of a cleaner energy future.”

Mr Slama said the gas industry was critical to the NT’s energy transformation, delivering energy supply and extracting benefits from the Beetaloo while supporting the development of the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct with emissions reduction technologies and low-carbon fuels.

“The oil and gas industry is focused on the Beetaloo Basin and Middle Arm so the benefits can be shared with the communities and residents of the NT,” he said.

“After this month’s Beetaloo Basin approval, gas companies are seeking regulatory certainty so they can proceed to production and deliver a new wave of economic prosperity that can help secure improved services and infrastructure.

“Gas is already so crucial to the NT economy – employing 11,000 workers along the supply chain, enabling about $19 billion of economic activity annually.

“But research has found Beetaloo development, depending on its size, could create up to 6,300 jobs, a $1 billion increase in revenues projected to the NT Government over the next two decades and $22.4 billion in NT economic growth (measured by Gross Territory Product) by 2040.”

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