Beetaloo Energy Australia has been selected as a preferred tenderer for the PLR2026-1-7 block in Queensland's Taroom Trough, securing a 25 per cent stake at no upfront cost. The Queensland Government picked Beetaloo, Amplitude Energy, Xstate Resources and Eastern States Energy for the acreage following a competitive land-release process. The four partners will hold equal interests, with Beetaloo's share held through its wholly owned subsidiary Imperial Oil & Gas A Pty Limited and Xstate acting as operator.
The 305-square-kilometre block sits on the eastern flank of the Taroom Trough between the towns of Miles and Condamine on Queensland's Western Downs, within the Bowen and Surat basins and next to a prolific established hydrocarbon province. The Fantome-1 well lies 15 kilometres west and down-dip. Drilled in 2012 by BG Group through its Queensland Gas Company subsidiary and now part of Shell's Queensland operations, it flowed gas from the Permian formation.
Beetaloo Energy Australia managing director Alex Underwood said: "This award gives our shareholders exposure to two of Australia's premier unconventional plays, the Beetaloo Basin's world-class gas resources and the Taroom Trough's liquids prospectivity."
Adding to the region's credentials, Omega Oil and Gas' Canyon play lies 40 kilometres south along trend. Four wells have been drilled there, including a horizontal appraisal that sustained 321 barrels of oil per day and 0.472 million standard cubic feet of gas per day, yielding premium 49.5-degree API light crude oil. An August appraisal well intersected six oil and gas-bearing reservoirs containing 170 metres of net pay. Canyon now carries a certified best-estimate contingent resource of 1.73 trillion cubic feet of gas and 68.6 million barrels of light oil and condensate, equating to roughly 1.7 trillion cubic feet equivalent.