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Speaker 1: You know that Empire Energy is hoping to expand the

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Speaker 1: development of the Northern Territories on shore natural gas resources

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Speaker 1: with their Carpenteria Pilot program, focusing on an area in

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Speaker 1: the Beaterloo sub basin. The company CEO, Alex Underwood, is

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Speaker 1: currently in Darwin. He's hosting or they are hosting a

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Speaker 1: number of information sessions and he joins me in the studio.

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Speaker 2: Gore Morning, Alex, Katie, good to speak.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, good to see you. Now, tell us a bit

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Speaker 1: more about the Carpenteria Pilot program and where it is

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Speaker 1: currently ash.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, sure, So we've carried out a lot of activity

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Speaker 3: up here in the territory over the last couple of years.

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Speaker 3: We've invested about one hundred million dollars in drilling, four wells,

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Speaker 3: two seismic surveys, and the flow testing so far has

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Speaker 3: been really encouraging, and now we're looking to move into

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Speaker 3: a phase of pilot development.

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Speaker 1: Now, tell me, I know that some of that drilling

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Speaker 1: has commenced, So what has it shown so far?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Sure, So we've known for a long time that there's

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Speaker 3: a lot of gas here in the b To lou

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Speaker 3: basin and what we're looking to do now is demonstrate

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Speaker 3: that we can commercially ex gas. So we've drilled big

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Speaker 3: horizontal wells, we've safely and effectively carried out fract jobs

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Speaker 3: and what it's shown is that it looks like there's

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Speaker 3: a commercial resource there.

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Speaker 1: I mean, some people listening will be feeling maybe a

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Speaker 1: bit concerned that those FRAC jobs have already started. What

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Speaker 1: do you say to those that are still concerned about that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, sure, so it is.

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Speaker 3: You know, it is a controversial technology, but it is

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Speaker 3: a proven technology. There's been hundreds of thousands of these

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Speaker 3: wells drilled around the world. I think the first one

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Speaker 3: in Australia was back in the nineteen forties. And we

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Speaker 3: have a very very strict regulatory regime here in the

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Speaker 3: territory and we operate under that regime and as a company,

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Speaker 3: and as the CEO of a company, you know, we

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Speaker 3: take that responsibility to protect aquifers very seriously. We've been

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Speaker 3: consulting with traditional owners and communities for about twelve years

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Speaker 3: now and we go to great lengths to explain to

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Speaker 3: people how we protect those aquifers. And you know, our

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Speaker 3: track record is of.

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Speaker 2: Being a responsible operator.

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Speaker 1: What benefits do you see that are going to flow

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Speaker 1: to the Northern Territory community because I guess that's the

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Speaker 1: other part of it. There'll be people wondering if there

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Speaker 1: are jobs and if there's going to be jobs really

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Speaker 1: for some of those communities as well where you may

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Speaker 1: be operating there.

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Speaker 3: Absolutely, I mean that that has already started. As I mentioned,

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Speaker 3: we've invested about one hundred million dollars so far. We're

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Speaker 3: now moving into a pilot phase and that'll involve potentially

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Speaker 3: up to another one hundred and fifty million dollars being

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Speaker 3: invested in the territory just next year. We've already got

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Speaker 3: jobs here on the ground in Darwen, and you know,

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Speaker 3: we've had lots of work for a lot of businesses,

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Speaker 3: particularly in the regions, and we see that activity only

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Speaker 3: continuing to ramp up.

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Speaker 1: When do you expect that, you know, that gas producing stage.

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Speaker 2: When are we going to get there? So it's not

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Speaker 2: too far away.

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Speaker 3: We are currently working on a plan to be out

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Speaker 3: in the field drilling about three more wells next year,

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Speaker 3: installing all the surface facilities and then putting the gas

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Speaker 3: into an existing pipeline that runs along the Carpenteria Highway

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Speaker 3: and that it has producing gas in early twenty twenty

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Speaker 3: five potentially you know, sometime later in twenty twenty five.

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Speaker 3: And I must say this comes at a pretty critical

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Speaker 3: time for the territory.

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Speaker 2: We're pretty short gas.

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Speaker 3: Up here and bringing more onshore gas into the market,

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Speaker 3: it's going to keep prices down, but also it means,

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Speaker 3: you know, royalties will start flying and plenty more jobs.

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Speaker 1: Who are going to be the main users.

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Speaker 2: So it's going to be a range of users.

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Speaker 3: But in the initial phase some of the gas will

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Speaker 3: be going to local mining projects, but also likely to

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Speaker 3: come up here to Darwin. You know, Darwin is powered

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Speaker 3: by gas fired power, and so you know every time

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Speaker 3: you turn your light on or turn on the air

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Speaker 3: coon in the in the increasing heat of summer, you

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Speaker 3: know it's Northern Territory gas it's going to be providing it.

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Speaker 1: Is it any concern like this is I suppose something

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Speaker 1: that's happened nationally. We've seen some governments Victoria for example,

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Speaker 1: saying that with new builds they're not going to be

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Speaker 1: able to have gas in their kitchens for example, Like,

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Speaker 1: is that a concern for you guys when you look

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Speaker 1: at at your business model and the way in which

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Speaker 1: things in some states are.

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Speaker 2: Going not at all.

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Speaker 3: I mean, it's interesting the Victorian example, So the amount

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Speaker 3: of gas in the Victorian market that goes into households

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Speaker 3: is actually only two percent of gas demands.

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Speaker 2: It's very minor in the scheme of things.

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Speaker 3: And you know, I think it's important to note that

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Speaker 3: we really rely on hydrocarbons for everything in our modern

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Speaker 3: daily lives. I mean, the food on our table requires

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Speaker 3: fertilizer that comes from gas. You know, it's powering our homes,

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Speaker 3: it's powering our cities, and you know, it is a

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Speaker 3: much lower missions source of energy than coal, and so

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Speaker 3: you know, we foresee that it's going to last for

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Speaker 3: many decades into the future.

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Speaker 1: It does seem as though everything is forging ahead for

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Speaker 1: you guys in the NT. Recently we have had you know,

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Speaker 1: that situation on the Tiwei Islands with Santos for example,

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Speaker 1: where you know, where things had been happening and then

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Speaker 1: it's come to a halt. Does that worry you and

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Speaker 1: your business certainty in any way?

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Speaker 2: No, not really.

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Speaker 3: I mean, we have been working with traditional owners or

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Speaker 3: as I mentioned, about twelve years now, and we have

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Speaker 3: very very well established procedures in place, working through the

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Speaker 3: land councils, to first of all, identify who are the

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Speaker 3: legitimate traditional owners of a particular area. That's not work

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Speaker 3: we've done. It's all done independently of us, which is appropriate.

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Speaker 3: And then that work is ongoing over many, many years,

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Speaker 3: and you know, we have meetings with the traditional owners

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Speaker 3: at least once a year, but often more regularly and

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Speaker 3: also critically, in order for us to move from this

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Speaker 3: expiration phase into the production phase, we do need a

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Speaker 3: further consent from the traditional owners and we're absolutely absolutely

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Speaker 3: going to seek that before we move into that production

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Speaker 3: phase because it's fundamentally the right thing to do.

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Speaker 2: It's their land that we're operating on and.

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Speaker 3: Were guests on their land, and you know, we see

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Speaker 3: them as partners in our projects.

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Speaker 1: Absolutely and got to make sure that everybody's working together. Now,

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Speaker 1: tell me with these community information sessions, when are they

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Speaker 1: happening and what are you sort of hoping to achieve

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Speaker 1: by holding them?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 3: Sure, So it's very important for us that anyone in

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Speaker 3: the community who wants to learn more about our project,

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Speaker 3: particularly people who are concerned, they can come and talk

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Speaker 3: to us directly. So some amazing members of our team,

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Speaker 3: Sonya and John have been right across the territory. Over

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Speaker 3: the last couple of weeks, they've gone to Boro, Lula Robertson, River,

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Speaker 3: Daily Waters and Elliott, meeting with anyone who wants to

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Speaker 3: meet with them. We're holding a community consultation session at

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Speaker 3: the Hilton Garden in this morning until twelve thirty, so

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Speaker 3: anyone on the air who's interested in learning more please

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Speaker 3: come along.

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Speaker 2: And also I should stress that we.

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Speaker 3: Are also very keen for nt based businesses to participate

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Speaker 3: in the benefits of this project, so we're working with

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Speaker 3: the Industry Capability Network. We've had over one hundred businesses

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Speaker 3: already register interest in our project, and we strongly encourage

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Speaker 3: NTE businesses to get involved.

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Speaker 2: And tell us what they can do to help build

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Speaker 2: the project.

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Speaker 1: Well. Alex Underwood, the CEO of Empire Energy, lovely to

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Speaker 1: speak to you this morning. Thank you very much for

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Speaker 1: your time.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Cotie, thank you