Northern Territory Liquefied Natural Gas (NTLNG) represents the first fully integrated onshore LNG development in Northern Australia where upstream, midstream and downstream production and processing are based in the Northern Territory.
The Northern Territory (NT) government has provided Tamboran exclusivity over 170-hectares on the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct for a proposed LNG development, NTLNG.
“Securing a strategic site at Middle Arm is a significant milestone for Tamboran and the Beetaloo Basin,” said Tamboran managing director and chief executive officer Joel Riddle.
“The enormous scale of the basin means that the low reservoir CO2 natural gas has potential to deliver large and scalable volumes over the long term not only for Australia’s East Coast gas market, but also to international markets.”
Middle Arm is located on a peninsula south of Darwin that already hosts the Ichthys LNG and Darwin LNG developments.
The NT is working with industry and the Australian government to accelerate the development of Middle Arm into a globally competitive, sustainable development precinct for low emissions hydrocarbon and hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage and minerals processing.
NTLNG is expected to be supported by low reservoir CO2 gas from the Beetaloo Basin.
According to Riddle, providing affordable natural gas to Australia is anticipated to enable a reduced dependency on coal fired power generation, while delivering a significant reduction in global greenhouse gas emissions.
The site under exclusivity is expected to host a LNG development with an initial capacity of 6.6 million tonnes of LNG per annum (MTPA), with the potential for expansion, subject to completion of the concept select study, successful Beetaloo appraisal drilling and flow testing, and Government approvals.
Tamboran is targeting first LNG production by 2030, with a near-term commitment to ensure Australia’s NT and East Coast gas markets are well supplied.
“If deemed commercial, Tamboran aims to sanction the proposed LNG development by 2026, with first volumes anticipated to commence by 2030,” said Riddle.
Front end engineering design (FEED) studies remain ongoing for the proposed 100 million standard cubic feet per day (mmscfd) domestic pilot development, with volumes contracted to Origin Energy for 10-years.
“Tamboran is also fully committed to working within the Middle Arm’s Strategic Environmental Assessment (SEA) framework,” said Riddle.
Within the SEA framework, Tamboran will seek to maximise economic benefits locally and nationally and plans to avoid, mitigate and offset any social or environmental impacts from the development.
“We are excited to be working closely with the NT Government in realising their vision for the Middle Arm precinct and transformation of the NT’s economy to reach $40 billion by 2030,” he said.
This enthusiasm was shared by NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles, who also said Middle Arm was about building the Territory’s future and about providing new sources of renewable and low-emissions energy, new investment, new industries.
“We’re absolutely committed to growing our economy while also transitioning to net zero emissions, and Middle Arm will play a huge part in that transition. This is what responsibly decarbonising and diversifying our economy looks like,” she said.
“We’ve always said that sustainability will be at the core of Middle Arm, and our focus on clean energy demonstrates that. An environmental strategic assessment is underway now for the entire precinct.”
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