Producing basin

Producing basins

The Amadeus Basin accounts for all past and current gas and oil production in the Northern Territory.

The Territory’s current onshore gas production is entirely sourced from Mereenie, Palm Valley and Dingo fields in the Amadeus Basin operated by Central Petroleum Ltd.

Production

Central Petroleum Ltd operates all the producing fields within the Amadeus Basin. Total production from the Amadeus Basin to the end of 2022 is 482 billion cubic feet (bcf) of gas and 19 million barrels of oil.

Annual petroleum production for 2022 was 13.3 bcf of gas comprising:

  • Mereenie oil and gas field - 9.74 bcf of gas and 0.14 million barrels of oil
  • Palm Valley gas field - 2.11 bcf of gas
  • Dingo gas field - 1.44 bcf of gas

Reserves and contingent resources

The table below lists the best estimate of reserves (2P) and best estimate of contingent resources (2C) using the SPE-Petroleum Resources Management System for producing fields operated by Central Petroleum at 27 July 2023.

FieldPermitResourceGross Reserves 2PGross Contingent
Resources 2C
Mereenie1 oil and gas field OL4 and OL5 conventional gas (PJ) 150 182.4
Mereenie1 oil and gas fieldOL4 and OL5oil (MMbbl)1.50.2
Palm Valley2 gas field OL3conventional gas (PJ) 26.8 9.2
Dingo2 gas fieldL7conventional gas (PJ)43.8 

1 Central Petroleum net share 25%

2 Central Petroleum net share 50%

Geology and petroleum systems

The Neoproterozoic to Palaeozoic Amadeus Basin covers an area of approximately 170,000 km2 in the Northern Territory and extends into Western Australia. The basin hosts up to five conventional petroleum systems. The Ordovician systems contains the producing Mereenie and Palm Valley fields that have been in production since 1983 in addition to the Surprise oil field that was producing between 2014 and 2015. The Dingo gas field is part of a Neoproterozoic aged petroleum system. The field was discovered in 1981 and production commenced in 2015.

The other prospective petroleum systems identified in the Amadeus Basin include three Neoproterozoic systems and a Neoproterozoic to Cambrian system comprising a variety of structural and stratigraphic traps. The basin is also a target for helium and naturally-occurring hydrogen in Neoproterozoic sub-salt plays. Thick sequences of Ordovician and Neoproterozoic shales have also been intermittently explored for shale gas and liquid potential.

View the Amadeus Basin inventory

Recent exploration

An overview of current exploration activities can be found at the onshore exploration page.

More information

Annual updated petroleum production from the Amadeus Basin fields plus onshore oil and gas reserves and resources for combined Northern Territory (NT) onshore basins can be found on the Department of Industry, Tourism and Trade website.

Download the conventional oil and gas factsheet PDF (1023.0 KB)

The eastern and northern sections of the Amadeus Basin are well covered by seismic including limited 3D seismic and over 100 petroleum wells.

A more detailed description of the geological potential of the Amadeus Basin can be found in Northern Territory Geological Survey (NTGS) Report 22.

Open file petroleum company reports and all NTGS data and information on Amadeus Basin is available from the GEMIS website.