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The partners jointly own the EP 161 acreage in the Beetaloo basin with Santos holding a 75 percent operating stake and Tamboran a 25 percent.
Tamboran said in a statement on Wednesday that the acreage holds about 300,000 acres of Mid Velkerri B shale at depths below 8,850 feet (2,700 meters).
The region has demonstrated Marcellus Basin-type decline curves from two Tanumbirini wells that were drilled and flow tested in 2022, according to the firm.
Moreover, Tamboran said that the goal of the studies is to evaluate options for supplying natural gas to a potential expansion train at the existing DLNG facility at Middle Arm.
The firm noted that DLNG was approved to a nominal 10 million tonnes of LNG per annum (mtpa), while this expansion opportunity includes up to about 6 mtpa of capacity.
Tamboran added that it remains committed to progressing the development of its proposed NTLNG project at Middle Arm, which is currently undergoing pre-FEED studies with Bechtel.
DLNG and Barossa
Santos operates the existing DLNG project with a 43.4 percent working interest.
The company announced on Wednesday that the Barossa gas project, which will supply feed gas to the DLNG plant, is 88.3 percent complete, while it remains on target for first production in the third quarter of 2025.
In 2021, Santos took a final investment decision for its $3.6 billion Barossa project.
Natural gas will be extracted from the Barossa field, located in Commonwealth waters about 285 kilometers offshore north-north west from Darwin, and supplied via a pipeline to the DLNG facility.
In 2023, the last LNG cargo produced from the Bayu-Undan gas field sailed from the Santos-operated Darwin LNG plant in Australia’s Northern Territory.
The final LNG shipment from Bayu-Undan left the 3.7 mtpa LNG plant at Wickham Point on November 11, 2023.
The Darwin LNG plant launched operations in 2006, and the facility is now being readied for the next 20 years, in preparation for the start of Barossa gas production.