Gas from the Beetaloo Basin will only pour fuel on the climate change fire

Gas is now flowing from the Beetaloo Basin, a vast fossil fuel project roughly 500 kilometres southeast of Darwin in the Northern Territory.

The basin is one of Australia’s largest onshore gas reserves , which the NT government estimates is capable of producing 430 trillion cubic feet of gas.

The Beetaloo is producing its first round of gas amid fanfare about the amount of royalties it could bring the NT.

Proponents say the basin could generate more than A$17 billion and support 13,000 jobs over the next two decades.

Already, there is talk of the economic opportunities that come with cheap energy, including powering energy-hungry data centres with shale gas.

For those who have long hyped the Beetaloo’s economic potential, this is welcome news.

For scientists, environmental groups and communities around Australia and the world bearing the brunt of global warming, it represents a “ climate bomb ”.

Remind me, what is the Beetaloo Basin? The Beetaloo Basin is a vast, sparsely populated stretch of rolling plains that covers 28,000 square kilometres between Katherine and Tennant Creek.

In terms of gas reserves, the Beetaloo is bigger than Western Australia’s North West Shelf project, the nation’s largest fossil fuel development which accounts for more than 40% of Australia’s oil and gas production.

The Beetaloo Basin is covered with pastoral leases and different forms of Aboriginal tenure .

Some of this tenure is the NT’s Aboriginal Land Rights Act land, which provides fairly strong rights for Traditional Owners.

But most of the Aboriginal title in the basin is federal native title tenure that does not allow Traditional Owners to veto resource extraction.

Over several years, the developers of the Beetaloo – who now include Beetaloo Energy, Tamboran Resources and Santos – reached agreements with the Traditional Owners to frack their Country.

But whether these agreements mean Traditional Owners actually consented to this fracking is hotly contested , given the Native Title Act is notorious for forcing Aboriginal groups into agreement.