The commencement of drilling follows approval of Santos’ Environmental Management Plan (EMP) by the Northern Territory Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment in May 2026, authorising the appraisal drilling program.
Spudding the well is a critical first step in the drilling process with the drill bit breaking ground on Friday morning. Territory-based contractor Exact Contracting completed construction of the well pad, access tracks and key road intersection upgrades, paving the way for drilling operations to commence.
Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said spudding the first appraisal well was a significant achievement for Santos and the Northern Territory – and for Australia.
«The first appraisal well is a critical milestone as we work to prove the commerciality of this world class gas resource, with our acreage alone having the potential to supply up to 10 Mtpa LNG and serve the northern and east coast domestic gas markets for 50 years or more», said Mr Gallagher.
About the Beetaloo basin
The Beetaloo Sub-basin, part of the greater McArthur Basin, is estimated to contain more than 430 trillion cubic feet (tcf) of undiscovered gas-in-place on a basin-wide P50 basis, making it one of the most significant onshore gas opportunities in the world.
The resource, developed at scale, could be a game changer for the Northern Territory and Australia, creating more than 6,500 full-time jobs and delivering economic benefits of up to A$2.8 billion for the Northern Territory and over A$9 billion for Australia over 25 years.
It is located in the central part of Australia’s Northern Territory, between the Mataranka and Elliott regions, near the towns of Daly Waters, Dunmarra, and Borroloola, approximately 500 km south of Darwin.
It covers an area of approximately 28,000–30,000 km2. It is geologically overlain by younger deposits of the Carpentaria Basin; the age of the main productive formations is approximately 1.3 billion years.
The Roper Group is of primary interest, particularly:
- the Velkerri Formation;
- the Kyalla Formation;
- within the Velkerri Formation, there are several promising shale horizons, the most studied of which is the Middle Velkerri B Shale, which is currently the main target of development.
Santos was originally an acronym for South Australia Northern Territory Oil Search.
Santos has a long history in the Top End with more than 40 years of active operations from Mereenie in the Amadeus Basin to Darwin LNG and the Barossa gas project.
The Beetaloo appraisal campaign follows Santos’ success commissioning the Barossa gas project, which feeds the revitalised Darwin LNG plant and is now averaging one LNG cargo every 8 days to provide energy security for Australia’s regional trading partners for decades to come.
The Barossa gas project has also secured approximately 300 permanent positions in the Northern Territory for the next 20 years, with an estimated A$2.5 billion worth of wages and contracts expected to flow for Territorians over that time.
Darwin LNG provides a natural launch pad for the next phase of Northern Territory energy development, including carbon management, a potential pipeline connection to the Beetaloo and a second LNG train fed by Beetaloo gas.
