Australia energy explorers expand drilling plans across gas basins

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Australia energy exploration expands

Highlights

Santos will drill three appraisal wells in Beetaloo Sub-basin through 2025, targeting part of over 7 trillion cubic feet of gas resources.
Santos, Carnarvon Energy, and CPC plan up to three new Dorado project wells in 2027, part of North Carnarvon and Roebuck basins' 37.7 trillion cubic feet of gas and 296 million barrels of oil.
Woodside Energy commits $200 million to Gippsland Basin exploration in 2025, aiming to support its domestic gas plant after taking operatorship from Exxon Mobil.

Exploration plans gather pace across major basins

As reported by Reuters, exploration spending is increasing across several Australian basins as companies advance appraisal wells, prepare domestic gas supply projects and line up new offshore drilling over the next two years.

In the Beetaloo Sub-basin in the Northern Territory, government data estimates a contingent resource of more than 7 trillion cubic feet of gas. Santos is set to drill three appraisal wells this year and next, with approval for as many as 12, while Beetaloo Energy is completing work on its gas plant so it can start sending small volumes to the Darwin market; Tamboran Resources is also due to begin supply in September.

Off Western Australia in the Bedout Sub-basin, the broader North Carnarvon and Roebuck basins are estimated to contain 37.7 trillion cubic feet of gas and 296 million barrels of oil. Santos and partners Carnarvon Energy and Taiwan's CPC plan to drill as many as three new wells at the delayed Dorado project in 2027.

In the Bonaparte Basin across northern Australia, the wider offshore Bonaparte and Browse area is estimated to hold 44.48 trillion cubic feet of gas and 60 million barrels of oil. Woodside Energy holds large fields there, while U.S. firm EOG, which had been scheduled to drill the Beehive-1 offshore oil prospect this year, has applied to extend its work permit and may defer activity until 2027, according to a filing with the petroleum titles administrator.

In the Otway region spanning western Victoria, South Australia and offshore Tasmania, the Otway and adjoining Bass Basin are estimated to hold 780 billion cubic feet of gas and 7 million barrels of oil. The federal government opened its first offshore acreage round in several years in late 2025 with five Otway parcels, while ConocoPhillips drilled two wells with junior partner 3D Energi in late 2025 and early this year, including one success, and has approval for several follow-up wells.

Amplitude has one more well to drill in the Otway this year after an earlier exploration campaign with privately owned OG Energy. ADZ, a private company, also plans one onshore well in the area.

Domestic supply needs shape regional investment outlook

The new exploration activity reflects pressure to secure future domestic supply as output declines in some legacy producing areas and companies seek to extend the life of processing infrastructure.

In the Gippsland Basin off Victoria, estimated to hold about 2.96 trillion cubic feet of remaining contingent gas resources and 73 million barrels of oil, Woodside Energy announced a $200 million exploration program in 2025 to help supply its nearby onshore domestic gas plant. The company also agreed last year to take over operatorship of the Gippsland Basin Joint Venture from Exxon Mobil, after Exxon failed to find more gas in a 2018 campaign that cost A$120 million.

Onshore Western Australia is also drawing fresh spending. Hancock Energy, part of Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting, plans to drill five wells this year in the Perth Basin and farther north at a cost of A$200 million, while Mineral Resources plans four wells across the Perth Basin and the onshore Carnarvon Basin through the second half of 2026 and the first half of 2027.

In Queensland's Taroom Trough, exploration remains at an earlier stage, with no basin-wide contingent resource estimate yet because drill targets are deep underground. Elixir Energy's Grandis project has a verified contingent resource estimate of 3 trillion cubic feet of gas, and both Elixir and Omega Oil and Gas plan follow-up drilling this year and next year, while the state has awarded multiple new permits since late 2025, including to private U.S. company Tri-Star.

Our previous coverage of UK business confidence highlighted a further deterioration in June, with the CBI’s expected output gauge falling to its weakest level since late 2025 and services showing particularly sharp declines. The same update pointed to a mixed labour-market picture, as vacancies continued to rise while advertised pay softened and graduate salaries dropped markedly—underscoring the tension between slowing activity and still-resilient hiring.

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