Australian shale play faces rocky ride
The Northern Territory, a key LNG centre, holds huge reserves of shale gas. But will regulations stifle development?
On a low-lying peninsula just south of Australia's largest tropical city, Darwin, lie two liquefied natural gas export facilities, signifying the leading role the Northern Territory (NT) plays as a global LNG exporter. At Bladon Point, the Inpex-Total joint venture Ichthys LNG project is poised to go live this year, liquefying gas and condensate sourced from the Browse Basin brought onshore via an 890km (553-mile) pipeline. At Wickham Point, the ConocoPhillips-operated Darwin LNG facility processes gas from the Bayu Undan field in the Timor Sea, and is looking at expanding capacity to include supply from the Barossa-Caldita fields. But this isn't all that the NT has to offer. The region also
Also in this section
11 August 2025
The administration is pushing for deregulation and streamline permitting for natural gas, while tightening requirements and stripping away subsidies from renewables
8 August 2025
The producers’ group missed its output increase target for the month and may soon face a critical test of its strategy
7 August 2025
The quick, unified and decisive strategy to return all the barrels from the hefty tranche of cuts from the eight producers involved in voluntary curbs signals a shift and sets the tone for the path ahead
7 August 2025
Without US backing, the EU’s newest sanctions package against Russia—though not painless—is unlikely to have a significant impact on the country’s oil and gas revenues or its broader economy
