First gas from Australia's Beetaloo puts shale ambition to the test. August 21, 2026 EnergyNow Media * Australia set to produce first gas from shale * Shale dream faces dense rock, political and infrastructure challenges * U.S. funding and expertise, Japanese investment boost confidence * Beetaloo gas could meet local and Asian demand (Reuters) - Deep in Australia's Red Centre, gas is set to start flowing next month from the sprawling Beetaloo basin to Darwin 500 km (310 miles) north, in what developers hope kicks off the country's own U.S.-style shale revolution. The prospects for the Beetaloo are vast. Geoscience Australia data shows it holds 7 trillion cubic feet of gas, fuelling local government dreams it will power data centres in the underdeveloped Northern Territory and feed liquefied natural gas sales to Asia from the world's second-largest LNG exporter. Get the Latest Canadian Focused Energy News Delivered to You! It's FREE: Quick Sign-Up Here But the challenges are big, too. It needs new pipelines that will cost billions of dollars to reach distant demand centres and faces political hurdles, including Australia's new policies requiring data centres to be primarily powered by renewable energy and LNG projects to reserve 20% of their gas for the local market. Tamboran Resources will send an initial 40 terajoules (37 million cubic feet) a day of gas from its Shenandoah project next month, followed later this year by Beetaloo Energy's 15 terajoules - modest volumes that will meet Darwin's daily use and help operators understand how quickly a well's gas might decline. Tamboran CEO Todd Abbott, who joined in January from U.S. shale producer Seneca Resources, said in a decade the company expects to be producing more than 1 billion cubic feet of gas per day. That could fuel a 9% increase in Australia's LNG export capacity. OLD ROCKS, NEW MONEY The Beetaloo is frequently compared with the Marcellus shale in the U.S. but is far older at 1.3 billion years versus around 400 million, with much harder, more compacted rocks as a result. It is also unique among shale plays, such as in the U.S. and Argentina, in that it has not already been developed as a conventional petroleum resource, said Martin Wilkes, a principal at RISC Advisory in Perth. So it lacks infrastructure. So far, Tamboran and its partners have spent A$1 billion ($713 million) on exploration and appraisal drilling, a spokesperson said. To fund development, Tamboran raised over A$280 million in April in Sydney and New York, where it listed in 2024 to tap investors more familiar with shale projects. In addition to U.S. money, service providers from the American shale patch are active in the Beetaloo, including Liberty Energy, whose founder Chris Wright is the U.S. energy secretary. Liberty Energy supplies drilling services to Tamboran. Early this year, Japan's top oil and gas company Inpex took a stake in Beetaloo acreage controlled by Texas-based Formentera Partners, in a symbolically significant vote of confidence as Japan is the main market for Australian LNG. "You need a party with deep pockets who's willing to deploy billions of dollars over several years before being able to prove up a large-scale commercial play, and they've never had that until now," said MST Marquee analyst Saul Kavonic. An Inpex spokesperson said the company had recognised the potential of the Beetaloo since 2012, when it greenlit its Ichthys LNG plant in Darwin. There is no shortage of potential demand for Beetaloo gas. Inpex has said the gas could help fill Ichthys or underpin an expansion. Similarly, Australia's no. 2 gas producer Santos, which plans appraisal drilling in the Beetaloo, has approval to expand its Darwin LNG plant to 10 million tons. Beetaloo Energy has proposed a data centre, one of roughly a dozen data centre projects planned for the Northern Territory that a regional official has said could use Beetaloo gas. SHALE NEEDS SCALE To match the U.S. shale revolution, scale and cost-cutting will be key. Beetaloo CEO Alex Underwood said a small number of wells is expensive but costs fall once drilling is continuous. "Understanding the interplay between capital expenditure and production profiles will really be the key determinant of how to scale up production in the future," he said in an interview. Developers plan to use locally produced sand in their hydraulic fracturing, which Beetaloo Energy estimates could save A$5 million per well in transport expenses, a 15% reduction. "It's minute efficiency everywhere. Pushing everything to its limit is what's making this stuff economic," Wood Mackenzie analyst Anne Forbes said. ($1 = 1.4025 Australian dollars) (This story has been corrected to show that Liberty supplies drilling services, not drilling rigs, in paragraph 10) Reporting by Helen Clark; Editing by Tony Munroe and Sonali Paul

Decision on $20b Papua LNG project due by year-end. Staff WritersAAP 18 August 2026, 9:00pm A final decision on a long-delayed $20 billion gas project in Papua New Guinea will be made by the end of the year, one of the companies involved in the massive venture says. Oil and gas group Santos has partnered with multinational energy giants TotalEnergies and ExxonMobil on the Papua LNG project to develop two onshore gas fields, 360km northwest of the capital Port Moresby. Papua LNG would be the country's second operational LNG project. The first went into production in 2014 and has provided some economic benefits, although predictions that it would double PNG's gross national product proved vastly overstated. TotalEnergies has been engaging with the community about the Papua LNG project through a development forum, which is the last major stage in the governmental approval process, Santos chief executive Kevin Gallagher told an earnings briefing on Wednesday. "There was a stall after a few weeks when it first got up and going. There were some challenges... those challenges were resolved, and the forum went back to operational two or three weeks back," he said. "Our understanding is it's going to plan. All the feedback is very positive." The forum should conclude around the end of September, and a final investment decision should be made on whether to move forward with the project in the fourth quarter, Mr Gallagher said. Papua LNG would develop the Elk-Antelope gas fields, which hold more than one billion barrels of oil equivalent. The gas field was first discovered in 2006, but its development has been bogged down by various controversies. Nearly 30 major commercial banks and export credit agencies have ruled out financing the project due to environmental, climate and human rights concerns. Santos said more than 60 per cent of the financing for Papua LNG was in place. The Adelaide-based company has also been moving forward with two other oil projects, its Barossa project in the Timor Sea and its Pikka project in Alaska. The Barossa project, located 285km north-northwest of Darwin, went into operation in October and has produced enough gas to load 12 LNG cargoes since the start of 2026, while Pikka shipped its first cargo of oil last week. Santos produced 45.6 million barrels of oil or oil equivalent in the six months to June 30, up three per cent from a year ago. The company on Wednesday reported a first-half net profit of $US355 million ($A501 million), down 19 per cent from the same time a year ago. The result was driven by a lift in revenue to $US2.6 billion ($A3.7 billion), leaving Santos to pay its shareholders an interim dividend of 11.6 US cents per share. In early afternoon trading on Wednesday, Santos shares were up almost three per cent to $8.33. Mr Gallagher also rejected suggestions Australia had a gas supply crisis, saying the federal government's own figures showed the current supply was adequate through to 2029. "That does not mean there will be a gas shortage. It just means we have to invest in developing new gas supply sources now," he said. "What we need is confidence to invest and bring that resource to market reliably and competitively when Australia needs it. Policy settings need to support that investment, not discourage it."

Lunch Wrap: Bond yields bite as Santos, Evolution buck results gloom. * Bond yields put the boot into the ASX * CSL fires again as tech cops it * Results season keeps the circus rolling The S&P/ASX 200 was down around 0.3% by lunchtime on Wednesday in Sydney after another ugly jump in global bond yields gave investors something new to whinge about. Wall Street had a pretty ordinary night itself. The S&P 500 fell 0.7% and the Nasdaq dropped 1.3%, with semiconductor stocks copping a hiding. But bonds were the bigger pain in the backside. The US 10-year Treasury yield was hanging around 4.72%, while the 30-year recently hit 5.31%, its highest since 2007. And yeah, bond yields sound about as exciting as reading the terms and conditions on your home loan, but this stuff matters. When government bonds start paying close to 5%, the market suddenly becomes a lot less impressed by companies charging top dollar for profits that may not turn up in the future. It's basically the market's landlord jacking up the rent. If you're an expensive growth stock, you'd better have a bloody good reason for occupying the penthouse. Back on the ASX, healthcare was again doing most of the heavy lifting after the sector ripped nearly 8% higher yesterday following CSL's (ASX:CSL) FY26 result. And CSL wasn't finished. The stock jumped another 4% this morning after Macquarie bumped its target price a hefty 23%, from $108 to $133. After the absolute kicking CSL has copped over the past year, investors appear to have reached the stage where a broker upgrade is greeted like someone's just found the missing dog. Tech, meanwhile, was the biggest laggard this morning on the back of higher yields. Meanwhile, the reporting season conveyor belt just keeps rolling. Here are some of the highlights from the large end of town: Santos (ASX:STO) rose around 3% despite first-half net profit falling 19% to US$355m, while underlying profit of US$397m also missed consensus estimate. The helping hand was oil, with crude above US$85 a barrel amid the ongoing Strait of Hormuz mess. The miner declared a fully franked final dividend of 6c a share, and plans to spend up to $47m buying back its own stock over the next six months. If the market doesn't fancy your shares, apparently there's always one buyer left in the room: yourself. Evolution Mining (ASX:EVN) rose around 0.5% after reporting an absolute cracker of an FY26 result. Statutory profit surged 59% to a record $1.48bn despite Evolution actually selling fewer ounces. It sold 710,000oz, down from 749,000, but its average realised gold price jumped from $4300 to a whopping $6023 an ounce. And... The Lottery Corporation (ASX:TLC) rose 2% despite FY26 revenue falling 2.9% to $3.57bn and statutory profit dropping 22.1% to $284.6m. The explanation was almost too good: Australia's lottery company had an unlucky year. Too many jackpots were won before they could snowball into the really big ones that get casual punters reaching for their wallets. There was no $100m Powerball or $50m Oz Lotto jackpot, which TLC reckons helped knock around $350m off revenue. So apparently the lottery business works better when nobody wins for a while. ASX leaders. Today's best performing stocks (including small caps) intraday: | / | Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap | | / | Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap | | 1TT | Thrive Tribe Tech | 0.002 | 50% | 200,000 | $4,988,285 | | AQX | Alice Queen Ltd | 0.007 | 17% | 1,967,268 | $13,923,090 | | AT4 | Americantungsten | 0.063 | 19% | 36,113,102 | $96,654,231 | | ATC | Altech Batt Ltd | 0.002 | 33% | 217,721 | $4,003,584 | | ATT | Altitude Minerals | 0.008 | 14% | 486,207 | $3,122,820 | | AVH | Avita Medical | 2.725 | 24% | 1,114,032 | $178,956,228 | | BRU | Buru Energy | 0.014 | 17% | 2,925,326 | $16,303,925 | | CCM | Cadoux Limited | 0.031 | 19% | 192,309 | $11,888,524 | | CCR | Credit Clear | 0.125 | 14% | 856,397 | $54,680,889 | | DDT | DataDot Technology | 0.004 | 17% | 171,568 | $3,658,362 | | DXN | DXN Limited | 0.240 | 23% | 5,470,705 | $71,906,419 | | DYM | Dynamicmetalslimited | 0.460 | 16% | 19,909 | $20,728,390 | | ENV | Enova Mining Limited | 0.003 | 50% | 180,000 | $3,961,218 | | EPN | Epsilon Healthcare | 0.026 | 18% | 46,261 | $8,560,288 | | EUR | European Lithium Ltd | 0.330 | 14% | 7,977,162 | $500,663,144 | | FRE | Firebrickpharma | 0.032 | 14% | 418,340 | $8,041,572 | | GLL | Galilee Energy Ltd | 0.005 | 25% | 999,999 | $7,245,152 | | HOR | Horseshoe Metals Ltd | 0.036 | 29% | 407,493 | $21,000,254 | | KPO | Kalina Power Limited | 0.024 | 14% | 3,988,035 | $61,593,435 | | M79 | Mammothmineralsltd | 0.050 | 22% | 600,240 | $22,915,432 | | OBT | Orbitresourcesltd | 0.022 | 16% | 2,774,304 | $16,123,061 | | OVT | Ovanti Limited | 0.003 | 25% | 6,215,014 | $2,293,795 | | RC1 | Redcastle Resources | 0.135 | 35% | 84,999 | $13,483,528 | | SFM | Santa Fe Minerals | 0.235 | 18% | 94,521 | $32,563,758 | | TON | Triton Min Ltd | 0.003 | 20% | 10,735,658 | $3,920,972 | Horseshoe Metals (ASX:HOR) is kicking off direct shipping ore operations at its Horseshoe Lights copper-gold project in WA, with plans to build 500t high-grade DSO stockpiles and target the first sales in October, followed by another in December. It has already engaged multiple potential buyers, with the idea being to turn those near-term DSO sales into cash to help fund further exploration at the project. DXN (ASX:DXN) has landed a ~$4.1m contract to design, build and install a prefabricated edge data centre for Melbourne Airport, adding aviation to its growing modular infrastructure footprint. It also picked up a further ~$1.6m variation on its existing Globalstar contract, taking the fresh work announced today to roughly $5.7m. Avita Medical (ASX:AVH) has delivered positive results from a randomised US study of PermeaDerm, with the wound treatment producing comparable clinical outcomes to cadaveric allograft while cutting product cost per percentage of body area treated by 70%. It also slashed preparation time by almost 96%, giving AVITA a pretty handy clinical-and-cost argument for hospitals considering an off-the-shelf alternative. ASX laggards. Today's worst performing stocks (including small caps) intraday: | Security | Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap | | Security | Description | Last | % | Volume | MktCap | | ABR | Albrightmetals Ltd | 0.003 | -17% | 530,000 | $4,661,367 | | AOK | Australian Oil. 0.002 | -20% | 184 | $5,819,027 | | APC | APC Minerals | 0.007 | -13% | 150 | $5,873,007 | | ARV | Artemis Resources | 0.003 | -14% | 493,776 | $15,770,284 | | BLU | Blue Energy Limited | 0.003 | -25% | 3,823,537 | $12,047,894 | | BPG | Black Pearl Group | 0.285 | -12% | 11,094 | $31,631,086 | | BPH | BPH Energy Ltd | 0.002 | -20% | 474,142 | $3,384,622 | | CHM | Chimeric Therapeutic | 0.020 | -43% | 7,734,886 | $2,145,899 | | CLG | Close Loop | 0.035 | -13% | 251,884 | $23,764,034 | | COS | Cosol Limited | 0.205 | -13% | 132,375 | $42,767,367 | | EVR | Ev Resources Ltd | 0.004 | -20% | 2,217,651 | $15,200,016 | | FHS | Freehill Mining Ltd. 0.001 | -33% | 500,000 | $6,099,780 | | FME | Future Metals NL | 0.015 | -12% | 2,272,531 | $16,292,814 | | GTE | Great Western Exp. 0.009 | -10% | 326,770 | $7,775,913 | | HSN | Hansen Technologies | 3.490 | -18% | 4,607,258 | $869,235,079 | | MOH | Moho Resources | 0.005 | -17% | 2,378,323 | $6,318,552 | | NAE | New Age Exploration | 0.002 | -20% | 3,978,347 | $10,855,656 | | NES | Nelson Resources. 0.003 | -14% | 159,332 | $9,746,413 | | NWM | Norwest Minerals | 0.008 | -11% | 156,736 | $12,166,976 | | RIE | Riedel Resources Ltd | 0.021 | -13% | 372,134 | $11,345,157 | | SPX | Spenda Limited | 0.003 | -25% | 201,718 | $4,770,114 | | SRK | Strike Resources | 0.023 | -12% | 76,923 | $7,377,500 | | TMX | Terrain Minerals | 0.003 | -25% | 4,766,000 | $14,846,913 | | TPW | Temple & Webster Ltd | 4.140 | -18% | 5,804,542 | $588,560,992 | | XEN | Xenitra Limited | 0.003 | -14% | 671,650 | $14,978,339 | Hansen Technologies (ASX:HSN) got absolutely belted, falling around 19% after long-serving CEO Andrew Hansen announced he was stepping aside after more than three decades. If you've never come across Hansen, it sells software used by energy, utilities, communications and media companies for things like billing and customer management. Andrew Hansen helped take the business public in 2000 and has basically been driving the bus ever since. He'll move into the executive chair role from November 19, replacing retiring chair David Trude, while TechnologyOne COO Stuart MacDonald takes over as CEO. In case you missed it. Equus Energy (ASX:EQU) says pre-FEED economics have strengthened its gas project case, with forecast revenues underscoring the scale of the development opportunity. Heavy Rare Earths (ASX:HRE) has expanded its Subron footprint by 268%, giving the company a larger exploration position over prospective ground. This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.