Exploration and appraisal

The summary below is from the Annual Geoscience Exploration Seminar 2026 Proceedings Volume, and relates to activity in 2025 and the first two months of 2026. More recent information can be accessed from company websites, or from the the Northern Territory Geological Survey’s Exploration News database.

Onshore petroleum exploration activity in the Territory in 2025 was largely focused on the appraisal of shale gas plays in the Beetaloo Sub-basin, with pilot production scheduled to commence in 2026.

Petroleum exploration expenditure in the NT in the 2024 calendar year was $369.7 million, up 469% on the 2023 figure of $78.8 million. The ABS do not provide a breakdown of offshore vs onshore for petroleum expenditure in the NT; however, a significant proportion of this expenditure is likely to have been onshore, primarily in the Beetaloo Sub-basin and Amadeus Basin, with some expenditure also likely to have been incurred offshore. The 2025 calendar results will be available in March 2026.

Since 2010, more than 70 exploration and production wells have been drilled onshore in the Northern Territory and exploration seismic data has been acquired in the McArthur, Amadeus, Pedirka and Georgina Basins. Read on for a detailed review of exploration activities in 2024.

View onshore exploration and production map in the NT PDF (1.4 MB).

View the current NT onshore petroleum titles and land status map PDF (14.4 MB).

The Beetaloo Sub-basin is a significant depocentre of Mesoproterozoic Roper Group sedimentary rocks of the McArthur Basin that underlies the Mesozoic Carpentaria Basin in the vicinity of Dunmarra and Daly Waters, and is the Territory's most advanced shale gas play. The B-shale of the Amungee Member of the Velkerri Formation is the primary target for shale gas exploration, with demonstrated continuity of gas-rich productive shales across a vast area of the sub-basin. In 2025, Tamboran Resources Corp and Beetaloo Energy Australia Ltd both progressed appraisal activities as they move towards planned pilot production in 2026.Combined 2C Contingent Ressources of shale gas across all operators in the Beetaloo currently totals 7.126 Tcf gas.

Tamboran Resources Ltd, in joint venture with Daly Waters Energy LP and Falcon Oil and Gas Australia Ltd, is the operator on three permits in the central part of the Beetaloo Sub-basin (EP 98, 117 and 76). Tamboran commenced their Shenandoah South Pilot Project drilling program in August 2024, with the spudding of the Shenandoah South-2 (SS-2H ST1) well in EP98, 5 km north of SS-1H. The well was drilled to a total depth of 6300 m in 35 days, including a 3000 m horizontal section. This was followed by the Shenandoah South-3 (SS-3H) well in late 2024. In February 2025, Tamboran announced that they had successfully completed stimulation activities over 35 stages across a 1671 m horizontal section in the Shenandoah South 2H sidetrack (SS-2H ST1) well. The well achieved an average 60-day initial production (IP60) flow rate of 6.8 million cubic feet per day (MMcf/d) over the 1671m stimulated horizontal within the Mid Velkerri B Shale. The average flow rate of 12.4 MMcf/d over a normalized 10,000-foot horizontal section is in line with an average of more than 11,000 wells in the Marcellus Shale dry gas area with production for over a 12-month period.

In July 2025, Tamboran commenced a batch drilling program for three wells (Shenandoah South-4H, -5H and -6H) on the same pad as SS-2H and SS-3H. In October 2025, Tamboran announced all three wells had successfully been drilled and cemented with 10,000-foot horizontal sections within the primary Mid Velkerri B shale target. The three wells were drilled with an average spud-to-target depth of less than 27 days. In December 2025, Tamboran announced it had successfully completed stimulation activities on the Shenandoah South 6H (SS-6H) well, comprising 58 stages across a 10,009-foot (~3,050-metre) stimulated length in the Mid Velkerri B Shale. Stimulation of the remaining three drilled wells (SS-3H, SS-4H, and SS-5H) is planned for the first half of 2026, subject to wet season conditions.

Tamboran have reported that the five wells are expected to deliver the contracted 40 TJ/d volume required under their existing Gas Sales Agreement with the NTG. In September 2025, Tamboran secured approvals to sell appraisal gas and announced its Final Investment Decision on the Shenandoah South Pilot Project. In November 2025, APA Group announced commenced construction of the 37 km Sturt Plateau Pipeline (SPP) connecting the Shenandoah South wells with the Amadeus Gas Pipeline (AGP). The Sturt Plateau Compression Facility will be completed in the first half of 2026 to facilitate the flow from the Tamboran wells in the Sturt Plateau pipeline.

Santos Ltd have EP161 in the eastern Beetaloo Sub-basin in joint venture with Tamboran Resources Corp. EP161 includes the Mount Brown (formerly Tanumbirini)-2H and Mount Brown-3H horizontal wells, and the has a 2C Contingent Gas Resource of 1.88 Tcf gas. During 2025, Santos progressed preparations for a up to three 10,000-foot horizontal well program at the Jibera South and Newcastle South locations in EP 161. Santos plans to undertake the program in 2026 and expects to stimulate each well during the 2027 dry season.

Beetaloo Energy Australia Ltd (formerly Empire Energy Group Ltd) continued drilling and flow-testing of wells in EP187 on the eastern margin of the Beetaloo Sub-basin, and have 2C Contingent Resources of 1.467 Tcf gas within EP187. In November 2024, the company drilled the Carpentaria-5H (C-5H) well on the same pad as the Carpentaria-2H (C-2H) and Carpentaria-3H (C-3H) wells. C-5H is designed to produce gas for the Carpentaria Pilot Project. The well was drilled to a total depth of 5310 m in 41 days, including a 3310 m horizontal section in the target Velkerri B Shale at an average depth of about 1575 m, Carpentaria-5H achieved a peak gas flow rate of 11.2 TJ/day, the second-highest 30-day average flow rate in the basin of 7.1 TJ/day and an exit flowrate of 6.3 TJ/day, confirming a low rate of decline over the 30-day clean-up test. Beetaloo Energy Australia announced a Final Investment Decision for the Carpentaria Pilot Project in December 2025. Civil construction works for the Carpentaria Gas Plant are well advanced, with gas sales expected to start in the second half of 2026.

The Mereenie Joint Venture (Echelon Resources 42.5%; Central Petroleum 25%; Horizon Oil 25%; Cure Energy 7.5%) completed a two-well development drilling program at Mereenie in early 2025. The first well, West Mereenie-29, was completed at 1474 m in the Pacoota-3 sandstones and was tied to the Mereenie gathering system, with a stabilised production rate of 5 TJ/day. Production started on 20 January 2025, with the additional gas being supplied to the Northern Territory Government. The second well, West Mereenie-30, was spudded in January and brought online on 26 February 2025. Combined, the two new wells initially increased Mereenie sales gas capacity (ie the total wellhead production capacity less system use gas) by 9 TJ/d, significantly exceeding pre drill expectations. No other exploration was reported by the joint venture partners in 2025.

The Amadeus Sub-Salt Exploration project is a joint venture between Central Petroleum and Santos, with the latter being the operator. The project is exploring for sub-salt hydrogen (H), helium (He) and hydrocarbons beneath the thick salt of the Gillen Formation of the Bitter Springs Group. Helium concentration in the historical Magee-1 well was 6% He, and gas flows at the Jacko Bore (formerly Mt Kitty) well contained 9% He. In November 2025, Central Petroleum entered into a conditional agreement to vend its share of two sub-salt exploration permits (EP-112 and EP-125) to UK-listed Georgina Energy Plc in exchange for a 25% equity interest in the listed company. If the transaction is completed, Georgina must drill the Jacko Bore prospect by mid 2027.

In June 2025, Echelon Resources completed acquisition of EP-145, located east-southeast of Mereenie, from Mosman Oil and Gas Ltd. EP-145 had best estimate prospective resources of 440 Bcf gas, 26.4 Bcf He and 26.4 Bcf H in the permit area. EP-145 is adjacent to the Mereenie oil and gas field and contains the West Walker anticline, a west northwest-plunging structure over 30 km in length, which hosts Neoproterozoic to Ordovician sedimentary rocks. Echelon has announced it is planning to acquire a 3D seismic survey over the West Walker gas discovery in the permit area.

Approved Environmental Management Plans for exploration activities in the NT can be accessed from the Department of Lands, Planning and Environment website.

Last updated:

16 February 2026

Download the conventional oil and gas factsheet PDF (1.9 MB) and the shale gas and liquids factsheet PDF (1.9 MB).

To view the distribution of petroleum wells and seismic lines across these basins and to download attributed spatial data, please visit the Northern Territory Geological Survey's (NTGS) online web mapping system STRIKE.