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Speaker 1: Now Beterloo Energy, which was previously known as Empire Energy,

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Speaker 1: has signed a consent agreement with traditional owners to sell

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Speaker 1: appraisal gas from the Beaterloo Basin. Production of appraisal gas,

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Speaker 1: which will help power the Northern Territori's domestic energy grid,

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Speaker 1: is expected to begin within months. Joining us in the

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Speaker 1: studio is Betloo Energy CEO Alex Underwood. Good morning to you,

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Speaker 1: Alex get Akatie.

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Speaker 2: Great to be back.

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Speaker 1: Good to have you on the show. Now tell me

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Speaker 1: how significant is this agreement with traditional owners.

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Speaker 2: Oh, this is a huge milestone, not only for us,

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Speaker 2: but also for the traditional owners themselves. This is the

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Speaker 2: first time on Aboriginal land that an agreement of this

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Speaker 2: sort has been signed and so we were delighted to

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Speaker 2: get their consent last week.

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Speaker 1: Yeah. Right, So what sort of changed their minds? Because

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Speaker 1: I know that there was like one person in particular

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Speaker 1: who'd spoken to Cam Smith and Matt Cunningham. You know

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Speaker 1: the journals that were out there about shifting from being

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Speaker 1: an antifraker who'd live i think, protested outside of Parliament

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Speaker 1: House in Canberra to then coming across and actually working

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Speaker 1: for you guys.

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Speaker 2: I think so I would say that's really the result

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Speaker 2: of first of all, years of working very closely together

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Speaker 2: to build their mutual trust and respect. But also we

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Speaker 2: have been employing traditional owners on site and it gives

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Speaker 2: them full visibility and transparency over what we're doing, and

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Speaker 2: they've been able to see that we are a responsible

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Speaker 2: operator and that we do really care about their interests.

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Speaker 1: Now, can you tell me what exactly is appraisal gas,

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Speaker 1: because if you're someone like me who's got no real

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Speaker 1: idea about the franking process, I don't know what is

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Speaker 1: appraisal gas.

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Speaker 2: So essentially we've moved beyond the expiration phase. We know

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Speaker 2: there's a very very large gas resource where we are.

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Speaker 2: What we do in the appraisal phase is assess the

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Speaker 2: commercial viability. That's likely to take a few years, but

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Speaker 2: we're delighted that under this agreement and the final approvals

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Speaker 2: we're receiving from the Anti government, not only will be

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Speaker 2: able to move up the resource but also deliver gas

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Speaker 2: into the local market while doing so.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned the commercial viability, like, how viable is it

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Speaker 1: looking from the work that you're already doing out there

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Speaker 1: at the Beadleoh?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, So we are very excited about the results. We're

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Speaker 2: generating so far, and we're feeling very confident about it.

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Speaker 2: We still have a bit more work to do along

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Speaker 2: that journey, but the early indications are extremely encouraging.

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Speaker 1: What put that into some context for US? I guess,

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Speaker 1: you know, you might look at other locations around the

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Speaker 1: world that are exporting gas. How does the Beaterloo compare

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Speaker 1: to some of those locations.

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Speaker 2: So as as you would know, the US energy industry

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Speaker 2: was really transformed by shale gas. There are some geological

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Speaker 2: factors required for success, and the Beaterloo very much has

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Speaker 2: all of those. And now we're going through the process

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Speaker 2: of proving it up. And you know, I think we're

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Speaker 2: sitting on a world class resource here.

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Speaker 1: How soon do you reckon? We could actually see gas

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Speaker 1: powering the North territories greed.

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Speaker 2: So we think it's not very far away at all.

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Speaker 2: We've just got to go through these final approvals. We've

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Speaker 2: got a gas plant that will be commencing the installation

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Speaker 2: of in the next couple of months, and as soon

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Speaker 2: as we do that, we'll be able to deliver that

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Speaker 2: gas into the pipeline that runs right through our tenement.

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Speaker 1: Like end of the year Alex.

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Speaker 2: Hopefully potentially early next but We're all working very hard

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Speaker 2: to make it happen as soon as possible because we

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Speaker 2: know that the Northern Territory needs more gas and we

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Speaker 2: are very committed to looking after the local market first.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, that's one of the big things that people sort

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Speaker 1: of contact us about is you know, they sort of say, woofy,

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Speaker 1: is this actually going to help us? Are we going

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Speaker 1: to see you know, gas flowing into the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: as well and helping us as customers? I mean, are

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Speaker 1: we What do you say to those that are concerned

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Speaker 1: with that.

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Speaker 2: Well, the first thing I would say is I think

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Speaker 2: it's already benefiting the local economy in a major way.

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Speaker 2: We are very proud to be employing toos on site

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Speaker 2: local businesses. And the critical thing about Onshore Gas is

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Speaker 2: that it will deliver royalties from day one. This means

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Speaker 2: that how the production we carry out can help fund

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Speaker 2: all the services that are required across the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 1: How many workers have you got on sites currently?

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Speaker 2: So right now we have about ninety people on site

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Speaker 2: just for one single well, and so that really gives

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Speaker 2: you a sense of the scale of the opportunity here.

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Speaker 2: You know, once this basin starts scaling up. I firmly

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Speaker 2: believe that there will be thousands of jobs that come.

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Speaker 1: Out of this. Yeah, so how does it kind of work?

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Speaker 1: I suppose in terms of the jobs that are required,

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Speaker 1: because you know, I guess it could be one of

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Speaker 1: the other myths or I don't know whether there's any

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Speaker 1: truth to it. That I have sort of heard over

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Speaker 1: the years, is oh, you know, once it gets going,

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Speaker 1: you don't actually need many staff out there. Is that

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Speaker 1: the case?

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Speaker 2: Well, I think again, if you look at the US

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Speaker 2: shale gas experience, the thing about onshore gas is that

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Speaker 2: it continues building for many, many decades, and so you know,

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Speaker 2: over in the US there have been around three million

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Speaker 2: direct and indirect jobs created out of this industry, and

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Speaker 2: I very much see that potential continuing to evolve from the.

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Speaker 1: Current point we're at, Like how many do you I

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Speaker 1: guess how long the piece is string? But do you

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Speaker 1: have any kind of fun you know, do you have

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Speaker 1: any any idea how many jobs we might see in

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Speaker 1: the NT as a result of the industry.

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Speaker 2: Well, it's very hard to predict. But what I would

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Speaker 2: say is that during the Pepper Inquiry, the independent experts

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Speaker 2: predicted six thousand jobs. I'm becoming more confident that that

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Speaker 2: estimate could be quite conservative given the scale up in

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Speaker 2: activity we're seeing.

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Speaker 1: Alex. You know, there is still people in the community.

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Speaker 1: I know, whenever you know I speak to you, whenever

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Speaker 1: I talk about about fracking, there are still some people

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Speaker 1: in the community that have concerns around fracking, that feel

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Speaker 1: as though it's going to have an environmental impact. I mean,

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Speaker 1: what do you say to those people listening this morning

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Speaker 1: who who just feel as though it's an industry that's

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Speaker 1: going to be damaging to the Northern Territory.

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Speaker 2: Well, I think what I would first say is, if

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Speaker 2: you look at our track record, we take our environmental

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Speaker 2: responsibilities extremely seriously, and particularly around aquifers. The aquifers are

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Speaker 2: a critical resource for local communities, for local businesses and

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Speaker 2: other industries, and I think our track record demonstrates that

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Speaker 2: we are doing things the right way. We are one

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Speaker 2: of the most, if not the most regulated shale gas

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Speaker 2: industry in the world, and I think that's appropriate to

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Speaker 2: maintain this beautiful part of the world and make sure

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Speaker 2: that we do protect it. I would also say that

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Speaker 2: for those people who have been working on site with us,

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Speaker 2: who can actually see directly the incredible processes we go

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Speaker 2: through to be environmentally responsible. We are now starting to

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Speaker 2: build their trust and mutual respect, and you know, it's

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Speaker 2: incumbent on us to keep explaining to people what we're

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Speaker 2: doing and how we're minimizing those risks.

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Speaker 1: Now, what's the long term plan in terms of the

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Speaker 1: gas that you get from the be Toloo, Which markets

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Speaker 1: is it going to be going to? Well? Are you

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Speaker 1: still working through that?

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Speaker 2: So the first and most important priority is looking after

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Speaker 2: the local market. I just heard the Chief Minister we're

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Speaker 2: on with you earlier talking about the importance of getting

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Speaker 2: more supply into the market and taking those pressure off prices.

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Speaker 2: Australia's East Coast is also suffering major gas shortages, and

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Speaker 2: I think that when we talk about additional gas out

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Speaker 2: of the be Toloo, not only do we need to

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Speaker 2: be resolving shortages, but we need to keep growing our

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Speaker 2: country's economy for decades into the future, and I think

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Speaker 2: gas has an incredibly important role to play in that. Ultimately,

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Speaker 2: we could also down the track see further LNG export

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Speaker 2: from this on shore basin after the local and East

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Speaker 2: Coast markets are supplied. And so you know, that's going

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Speaker 2: to create incredible royalties for the NT and a lot

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Speaker 2: of job if we can get it right.

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Speaker 1: Well. Alex Underwood, the Beterloo Energy CEO, good to speak

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Speaker 1: with you this morning. Appreciate your time. Thank you, Katie,

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Speaker 1: thank you,