Australia's Santos kicks off drilling of first Beetaloo appraisal well

en.Wedoany.com Reported - On September 4, Santos spudded the first appraisal well of this campaign in the EP161 block of the Beetaloo Sub-basin in Australia's Northern Territory, launching its 2026–2027 appraisal drilling program. The Northern Territory Minister for Lands, Planning and Environment approved the EP161 Beetaloo Basin Appraisal Pilot Environmental Management Plan on May 12, with this campaign initially targeting two appraisal wells. Santos holds a 75% interest in the EP161 block and serves as operator, with Tamboran Resources holding a 25% interest.

The two appraisal wells in this campaign are Jibera South 1H and Newcastle South 1H, each planned to drill a horizontal section of approximately 10,000 feet (about 3,000 meters), targeting the Middle Velkerri B shale at a true vertical depth of approximately 11,300 feet. Each well is planned to undergo up to 60 hydraulic fracture stages, followed by extended flow testing. Tamboran has previously disclosed that the two wells are commitment wells under the EP161 exploration permit, with drilling planned to be completed by the end of 2026.

Santos has contracted the Ensign Rig 971 for this campaign. The Jibera South and Newcastle South well sites are located in the eastern Beetaloo area of EP161, where Santos has completed construction of well pads, access roads, and road intersections, with Northern Territory contractor Exact Contracting undertaking the associated civil works. Hydraulic fracturing of the two wells is scheduled for mid-2027, followed by flow testing in the second half of 2027.

EP161 has previously drilled the Mount Brown 2H and Mount Brown 3H horizontal wells, with drilling and fracture testing completed on both wells in 2021. The Northern Territory Government currently lists EP161's 2C contingent gas resources at 1.88 trillion cubic feet. Santos' 2026 investor materials indicate that this campaign's appraisal wells target a single-well production rate of approximately 20.5 million cubic feet per day as an evaluation benchmark, with further testing of the resource scale and productivity of the Beetaloo East area.

Santos has previously stated that, should appraisal results meet development criteria, Beetaloo gas could be connected north to Darwin LNG and east into Australia's east coast gas market. The company is evaluating options to supplement Darwin LNG and GLNG supply with Beetaloo gas, with the current target timeline including a final investment decision between late 2028 and early 2029, and commencement of backfill gas supply around 2033.