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The pressure to address climate change by reducing the nation’s dependence on fossil fuels has also led to a refusal by some superannuation funds and banks to lend or invest in gas and coal projects. In turn, this has driven an increase in private capital into those sectors.

Despite the opposition to fossil fuel investment, both the federal government and the opposition have agreed that gas remains a necessity as the economy transitions to renewables and a clean energy future.

The role any gas from the Beetaloo would have in addressing Australia’s supply shortage was questionable, according to the Grattan Institute’s energy program director Tony Wood, a former Origin Energy executive. He said the first challenge would be transporting the gas from the Beetaloo to the nation’s east coast. “Most people would have said that the most likely destination for that gas is Darwin and then export. There is some capacity to upgrade Jemena’s Northern Gas Pipeline between the Northern Territory and Mt Isa, but that’s pretty limited.”

“The government has made it clear they’re not going to invest public funding into any gas infrastructure long term because that would create a political challenge if nothing else. Clearly, the government’s objective is to gradually think about gas as not having a long-term future.”
“The government has made it clear they’re not going to invest public funding into any gas infrastructure long term because that would create a political challenge,” says Tony Wood, Grattan Institute Energy Program director.

“The government has made it clear they’re not going to invest public funding into any gas infrastructure long term because that would create a political challenge,” says Tony Wood, Grattan Institute Energy Program director. Oscar Colman

Joel Riddle, Tamboran’s chief executive, said the Sheffield family’s interest in the Beetaloo stems from when Bryan Sheffield’s father Scott was a Santos board director between 2014 until 2017. Santos has been exploring for gas in the Northern Territory’s McArthur Basin, of which the Beetaloo is a sub-basin.

“When Scott Sheffield was on Santos’ board, he was aware of the Beetaloo, and it was still sort of in the early days of the drilling programs, and early data was coming in,” said Riddle. “What Brian shared with me is that his dad really was pretty high on the early results, and to the extent that some people from Santos flew over to Dallas and sat with his team at Pioneer. There was early recognition from Scott that the Beetaloo had the potential to be the next big shale play in the world.”

“It’s going to be a really serious part of the next round of energy alternatives in Australia,” says Paul Espie of shale gas
company Empire.
Gas

It’s a gas, gas, gas: How Aussie richlisters plan to unlock a fracking fortune in the NT

Empire and Tamboran have drawn the interest of deep-pocketed investors who believe the gas reserves in the Beetaloo have the potential to unlock a fortune and redefine Australia’s energy market, which is in the midst of a crisis.

Despite being one of the world’s biggest exporters of gas, Australia has a shortage of gas to supply the nation’s east coast, which has sent domestic gas prices soaring, adding to the cost pressures of business and households.

Last month, the federal government signed a heads of agreement with gas exporters Shell, ConocoPhillips and Santos, to shore up domestic supply for next year, after a warning from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) that the nation faced substantial shortfalls of gas for local industry in 2023.

The Northern Territory government estimates that the Beetaloo could hold more than 200,000 petajoules of gas, although not all of that would be recoverable if the projects do prove viable. The reserves dwarf Australia’s annual energy consumption, which was 5,790 petajoules in the financial year to June 30, 2021, according to the federal government.

The first gas production from Beetaloo, if it happens, would not be in 2025. However, there remains strong public and environmental opposition to the fracking of gas in the Northern Territory, and more broadly to further investment in developing fossil fuel projects.

The Texas billionaire betting big on Australian gas

By Anne Hyland

October 17, 2022

Exploration and prouction in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory has attracted national attention.

Exploration and prouction in the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory has attracted national attention. Supplied

Billionaire Bryan Sheffield, a third generation oil and gas executive from Texas, has bet $110 million on the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin becoming one of the next big shale gas developments globally.

Sheffield, who worked part of his early career as an investment banker in Sydney and whose father Scott Sheffield helms a $US60 billion oil and gas company, has bought stakes in ASX-listed Tamboran Resources and Empire Energy, in the past year.

Since last November, Bryan Sheffield, has spent $102 million acquiring a 15.2 per cent stake in Tamboran, making him the company’s biggest shareholder. In September, Tamboran bought Origin Energy’s Beetaloo assets, positioning it as the biggest player exploring for gas in that basin.

In June this year, Sheffield spent almost $8 million becoming a shareholder in Empire, drawing speculation that he might attempt to consolidate Tamboran and Empire. “He’s made a big play in the Beetaloo,” observed Empire chairman Paul Espie, who also chairs the Liberal Party think-tank the Menzies Research Centre. “What his endgame is - you can come to your own conclusion.”

Texas oil and gas executive Bryan Sheffield sold his business Parsley Energy to his father’s company Pioneer Natural Resources in 2020 for $US4.5 billion.

Texas oil and gas executive Bryan Sheffield sold his business Parsley Energy to his father’s company Pioneer Natural Resources in 2020 for $US4.5 billion. Supplied

Tamboran chief executive Joel Riddle said Sheffield was spreading his bets. “Brian has shared with me that he has an interest in the whole basin. He wants to spread his bets around.”

The Beetaloo Basin was earmarked by former prime minister Scott Morrison for $220 million of public investment as part of his government’s gas-fired economic recovery plan, which included government funding to support exploration and drilling by companies such as Tamboran and Empire in the Beetaloo.

A federal Senate inquiry is currently investigating whether taxpayer funds should be used to support private investment in the Beetaloo.

“He’s made a big play in the Beetaloo.”
Paul Espie, Empire Energy chairman

Sheffield joins a number of rich-listers on the Empire share register such as Tasmanian billionaire Dale Elphinstone and also Paul Fudge, who’s worth almost $770 million.

After acquiring the Beetaloo gas assets of Origin, Tamboran and Sheffield also find themselves in partnership with Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg. Vekselberg is the largest shareholder in Falcon Oil & Gas, which remains a non-operating partner of the Origin assets.

cont.......

The Texas billionaire betting big on Australian gas - By Anne Hyland
October 17, 2022

https://amp.smh.com.au/business/companies/the-texas-billionaire-betting-big-on-australian-gas-20221014-p5bpvk.html

https://twitter.com/MrMichaelSpicer/status/1581028189979041792

what Tory MPs really think of Truss and it is brutal and violent...M Spicer

thanks

BHP’s relationship with Japan is strong but the partnership is only strengthening.

“The world must address head on the threat posed by climate change,” Henry said. “That’s going to require minerals. It is essential that those minerals are produced in a sustainable way, and that their associated value chains are stable, reliable and also progressing towards being carbon free.

“This need has seen us deepen our levels of collaboration with Japanese partners to levels not seen for many decades. And we continue to explore opportunities to do more together, faster.”

https://www.australianresourcesandinvestment.com.au/2022/10/14/bhp-designing-a-new-future-with-japan/

It is fractional markets that keep the POG In check. Paper gold gives leeeechhhhes like JPM total control over the direction of the POG

Solgold doesn't need a partner to develop Cascabel. Solgold needs to monetise the company or monetise Cascabel and then pour its efforts into further proving up of current discoveries and other exploration efforts...this partner bollocccks means more dilution, more complications and an even longer pathway to shareholder returns

Top stuff by the way..thanks ITG

Is that a big flare in relative sense of course?

some mega prints coming through from Tribeca but when they've finished this should turn quite aggressively. at what point that will happen is open to personal judgement

DP

Admitted for trading ie not actually traded

Too right it's crazy but the atmosphere in the wider market is bordering on paranoia so not too surprising that healthy and unhealthy are all dragged down in unison...

At least the selling is well managed and orderly which should please new entrants into the stock. If you can't make money from this level then you may as well pack up and go home. The price will tell you when the selling has been completed

They may be taking out their costs etc but either way take advantage of their dripping...the upside risk is greater than the downside risk

https://uk.advfn.com/stock-market/london/solgold-SOLG/share-news/SolGold-PLC-Investor-Call-SolGold-Cornerstone-T/89276244

nm

'Fog sold the 77.5% for just 6.75 million australian $'/.

Yes, and that's the brutal truth of this deal but FOG had absolutely zero leverage ie a cash poor balance sheet and zero technical assets unlike TBN or indeed ORG. FOG is to all intents and purposes a shell company awaiting monetisation. We are all aware that FOG is by and large a shell with a few employees and it's only real asset is its stake at Beetaloo though at least that does have material commercial value and we all await to see what happens to the value of that stake when drilling resumes