Industry News

The Territory Labor Government is supporting businesses reduce waste with grants of up to $20,000 on offer to invest in equipment or technology which improves recycling.

The Sustainable Business Solutions (SuBS) grant program has a funding pool of $500,000 available to incentivise businesses to adopt alternatives to waste disposal and help the Territory transition towards a circular economy.

The circular economy has the potential to play a key role in helping the Territory achieve a $40 billion economy by 2030.

Adopting new approaches to how businesses manage waste will create economic and environmental benefits for all Territorians.

Grants up to $20,000 are available on a co-contribution basis to purchase equipment or technology for businesses to reduce their waste and improve recycling outcomes.

Eligible equipment or technology includes those that avoid or prevent waste being generated on site or reuses waste on site and facilitates recycling. This may include cardboard perforators, commercial worm farms or food waste monitoring equipment.

Prior to applying, businesses must undertake a waste assessment using the Bin Trim App.

Bin Trim App will provide a customised Action Plan for the business which will include baseline waste data, low or no cost waste recycling opportunities and recommendations to purchase relevant equipment or technology.

The business should discuss the action plan with the Small Business Champions team to understand whether the recommended equipment or technology may be eligible for grant funding under the SuBS grant program.

Applications close on 30 June 2025 or, sooner if funding is fully allocated.

To download the fact sheet please proceed here.

To find out more information and to apply visit nt.gov.au/subs 

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom

Santos today announced the signing of a binding long-term LNG Supply and Purchase Agreement (SPA) with Hokkaido Gas Co., Ltd. to provide LNG from Santos’ portfolio of world-class LNG assets.

The long-term SPA will supply up to approximately 0.4 million tonnes per annum of LNG for 10 years, commencing in 2027, from Santos’ LNG portfolio on a delivered ex-ship basis.

Hokkaido Gas and Santos also intend to collaborate to explore carbon sequestration and e-methane opportunities to reduce carbon emissions across their respective portfolios.

Santos Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer Kevin Gallagher said the contract is consistent with Santos’ strategy of maintaining long-term LNG pricing and demonstrates the value of Santos’ high-quality LNG portfolio. This agreement further demonstrates the strong demand for high heating value LNG from projects such as Barossa and PNG LNG.

“This SPA is a significant step in developing Santos’ equity LNG portfolio and establishes a long-term relationship with Hokkaido Gas, a Japanese gas utility providing natural gas within the Hokkaido region of Japan.”

“Our agreement with Hokkaido Gas demonstrates Santos’ commitment to providing reliable, competitive energy supplies to support our valued customers in Asia. We also look forward to working together to explore CCS and e-methane opportunities to support Japan’s and Santos’ decarbonisation targets,” Mr Gallagher said.

Source: Santos 

Construction activity is ramping up on the Darwin Ship Lift Facility project with work progressing on and off site.

Head contractor Clough-BMD Joint Venture (CBJV) has now fully mobilised to the East Arm site and commenced construction activity site, including:

• locating and identifying existing underground services
• demolishing and removing existing concrete structures
• constructing temporary access to the ship lift site for construction vehicles.

Construction activity completed off site includes:

• installation of site office and crib facilities at the Common User Facility adjacent to the ship lift site on Berrimah Road
• preparatory works for dredge spoil placement in the ponds at Darwin Port on Berrimah Road.

Further on site construction activity planned for this month includes importing quarry materials, commencing site establishment works for dredging and placement of imported material.

Approximately $17.8 million in supply and subcontracts to date have been awarded to local Territory businesses, including $16.9 million to Wilga Indigenous Corporation to supply quarried rock to construct the Darwin Ship Lift Facility.

Find out more on the construction progress here. While keeping informed on the project here.

The Northern Territory Government’s vision is to become a $40 billion economy in 2030, by driving investment, creating 35,000 more jobs and growing the population.

Infrastructure NT is working with the Investment and Major Projects Commissioners to attract private sector investment and accelerate growth.

To increase engagement with our stakeholders and partners we have launched a new Infrastructure NT website as a central location for details and updates on the biggest enabling infrastructure projects in the Territory.

Projects we are leading delivery of include:

• Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct
• Regional Logistics Hubs
• Adelaide River Off-stream Water Storage project, Manton Dam Return to Service and Strauss Water Treatment Plant as part of the Darwin Region Water Supply Program
• Darwin Ship Lift Facility
• Civic and State Square Precinct revitalisation.

Australia is on the cusp of an unprecedented wave of investment in public infrastructure projects and the Territory has the strategic location, and access to resources, to capitalise on this opportunity.

We are ensuring the Territory invests in the right infrastructure, in the right place, and at the right time, to attract more private investment to create and sustain jobs. This will support better quality of life for all Territorians.

We will support private sector investment through the development of enabling economic and social infrastructure.

The Territory is the land of opportunity and infrastructure plays a key role in unlocking those opportunities. Focussing on strategic infrastructure planning and investment will enable long term  sustainable economic and population growth in the Territory.

To view the new website and register for updates please go to: infrastructure.nt.gov.au

You can also watch the introduction video for the new website.

For more information, contact Infrastructure NT on phone (08) 8936 5696 or email Infrastructure.NT@nt.gov.au

Dramatic new details have been released on the future of Sun Cable, the world’s biggest renewable energy and storage project, with 12 gigawatts (GW) of wind capacity to be added to the massive arrays of solar panels and giant batteries planned for the Northern Territory.

The new details were unveiled this week by Quinbrook Infrastructure Partners, the Australian-founded global investor that was brought in by Sun Cable’s principal backer, software billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes, to look at the near term domestic opportunities for the project.

Quinbrook quickly identified that wind energy would be a useful addition to the project that was originally focused on 20 GW of solar and 42 GWh of battery storage.

After nearly a year of studies, Quinbrook now has a better idea of what that might look like – 12 GW of wind, with the solar component reduced from 20 GW to 12 GW, and the storage component also reduced to 32 GWh – thanks in part to the role that wind will play in providing power after the sun goes down.

The project, according to James Allan, a director of both Quinbrook and Sun Cable, will likely be rolled out in two stages – with the first sized at 12 GW of wind and solar and 16 GWh of battery storage.

Interestingly, the first stage will now target both a link to Singapore and the planned supply to a new massive green manufacturing hub at Middle Arm in Darwin, rather than just the domestic component that had been touted last year.

The second stage, of another 12 GW of wind and solar, and another 16 GWh of battery storage, will be focused on expanding the capacity of the link to Singapore.

“It’s a very large and ambitious project,” Allan told the Energy Storage conference in Sydney this week. “In some sense. it’s the largest behind the meter project in the world, because what we’re what we’re actually going to be doing is running our own cable into the (Middle Arm precinct).”

That means it will be separate to the existing Darwin grid, which is tiny in comparison with a maximum load of around 300 MW. “We’re going to be running six gigawatts into Darwin’s area, and about four gigawatts of that will go into the Middle Arm precinct to support new green industries,” Allan said.

“About two gigawatts of that power will be delivered into the international cable and follow through to Singapore to support Singapore decarbonising its grid.

“And so Quinbrook at the moment is focused on what’s called the downlink side of the project, which is the domestic generation fields, the 800 kms HVDC domestic link from those generation fields up to Darwin and the connections into Middle Arm and the export terminal.

Sun Cable project map released last September

“The second stage of the project called Singapore Link is then focused on the much longer subsea cable, the 4,300 Kkm cable that will run through Indonesian waters to the offtake facility in Singapore they need to connect into the Singaporean grid.

“And so it’s a massive project. I think what the reason that we were attracted to it and why we see this as a really interesting, exciting project to be involved in is the ability to not just send power to Singapore, but also to use it domestically to do exactly this thematic investing that I’ve been talking about in this presentation.

“We want to see some of these industries springing up in Darwin.”

Allan also flagged that Quinbrook itself – which is looking at an $8 billion polysilicon production project to help Australia grab a bigger share of the solar supply chain – would likely be a customer for its own planned projects “and hopefully do something useful with it and export it to Asian markets and elsewhere.”

Allan said Sun Cable would be able to support multiple projects of that nature and help Darwin achieve its goal of creating $40 billion green economy.

“Australia is blessed to have … all the ingredients that are needed to make this happen,” Allen said. “We have to renewables, we have the minerals, we have the ports, we just need to push and assume our place in these growing and new markets that are springing up.

“But time is of the essence. There are a number of other countries that have exactly the same idea and whilst these ports are scarce, they’re not completely unique.

“And so many other countries are trying to fold in under the wing of US policy support, to get special status to be able to contribute to push their ports push their renewable industries as hard as they possibly can. And we need to be in the mix right now.”

Source: Renew Economy: Clean Energy News and Analysis

Since 2018, the Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory (Commission) has published an annual Northern Territory Power System Performance Review (NTPSPR), which focuses on overall power system, generation and network performance in the Darwin-Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek power systems. Where possible and relevant, the NTPSPR compares current performance with historical data to identify trends and industry benchmarks to provide context to the results.

The NTPSPR’s main purpose is to inform the responsible minister, government, electricity licensees and stakeholders on the performance of the Darwin-Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek power systems, and provide an assessment of generation and network performance in 2022-23, including by highlighting any areas of concern.

Regular reporting on the electricity supply industry helps increase understanding and transparency of issues, with a view to improving planning and investment decisions, understanding of value for money (price compared with level of service) and general performance by holding electricity licensees accountable for their decisions and performance, and the subsequent impacts on customers.

The 2022-23 NTPSPR is prepared by the Commission in accordance with section 45 of the Electricity Reform Act 2000 and is restricted to the Darwin-Katherine, Alice Springs and Tennant Creek power systems, with the Darwin-Katherine power system further segmented into the regions of Darwin and Katherine for some indicators. The 2022‑23 NTPSPR has been prepared with input from licensees through stakeholder consultation.

The 2022-23 NTPSPR continues to transition its ‘look and feel’ from that of earlier reviews, with the Commission revising the focus from a technical and broad-based review of overall power system, network and generation performance, to a review with a narrower scope and focus on standards of service and outcomes of licensee performance as experienced by customers. This change in focus realigned the NTPSPR with the Commission’s role as an economic regulator, noting the Commission is not a technical regulator. However, when and where necessary, the Commission will undertake a ‘deep dive’ on a particular issue or issues, including of a technical nature, either as part of this publication or another publication.

Find the results of this review here.

To find out more about the Utilities Commission of the Northern Territory.

The Adelaide River Off-Stream Water Storage (AROWS) project is continuing to take shape with an Airborne Electromagnetic (AEM) Survey taking place to help streamline infrastructure design investigations for AROWS.

AROWS is a sustainable approach to water security. Unlike traditional dams that block river flow, AROWS stores water away from the river in an off-stream storage by utilising a naturally occurring basin made up of a ridge formation north of Lake Bennett.

The AEM survey is a non-invasive form of survey that will be conducted by a helicopter carrying a sensor minimum of 30 metres above the ground to measure the natural variations in the electrical properties of the soil, rocks and water.

The information collected in the AEM survey will help streamline future ground investigations, increase certainty of geological and geotechnical models, reduce design and construction risks and provide a thorough understanding of the land within and surrounding the AROWS site.

AEM data will be collected by transmitting an electromagnetic signal over the AROWS site and surrounding areas from a sensor attached to a helicopter.

AROWS is part of the Darwin Region Water Supply Program, which also includes Manton Dam Return to Service; Stage 1 of the Program has attracted over $300 million in investment from the Australian Government.

AROWS will secure Greater Darwin’s drinking water supply over the long term, and will be a critical enabler for agricultural and industrial growth. Construction of AROWS (Stage 2 of the Darwin Regional Water Supply Program) will provide long term water supply for the proposed Lambells Lagoon Agribusiness Precinct and the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct.

Quote attributable to Chief Minister Eva Lawler:

“It is vital we secure sustainable solutions that protect our environment and maintain our great Territory lifestyle.

“This new surveying will feed into the infrastructure design work which has just kicked off, creating even more working opportunities for Territorians.”

Quotes attributable to Minister for the Environment, Climate Change and Water Security Kate Worden:

“Water is a very important resource for the Territory as we work to build our economy to $40 billion by 2030.

“The AROWS project will secure our drinking water supply over the long term and help develop our agribusiness industries and drive industrial growth."

Source: Northern Territory Government Newsroom

The Australian oil and gas industry is set to deliver a record $17.1 billion in taxation revenue to federal, state and territory governments for the 2023-24 financial year, according to a survey by Australian Energy Producers.

This represents a 5.3 per cent increase from the $16.3 billion paid in 2022-23.

The massive tax haul includes $12.8 billion in company income tax, $1.2 billion in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT), $2.5 billion in state royalties and excise, and $656 million in other taxes.

Australian Energy Producers Chief Executive Samantha McCulloch said the $17 billion contribution is equivalent to funding 11 new public hospitals, and 250 schools, or covering healthcare costs for 1.76 million Australians.

“The latest survey results represent the highest revenue contribution to date, helping governments fund essential services and infrastructure like roads, schools and hospitals,” McCulloch stated.

In addition to the record tax payments, the survey showed the oil and gas industry will spend over $41 billion on Australian goods and services in 2023-24, supporting local jobs, businesses and communities across the country.

McCulloch reinforced the federal government’s Future Gas Strategy, which recognises the crucial role of gas in Australia’s energy security and economy.

“The strategy put beyond doubt that gas is essential to Australia’s energy transformation and investment in new gas supply is needed to ensure Australian households and businesses, and our trade partners, continue to have reliable and affordable energy,” she said.

The record tax and spending figures underscore the oil and gas industry’s critical importance to the Australian economy and its role in funding vital public services and infrastructure for all Australians.

Source: Petroleum Australia

• Northern Territory could offer the solution to eastern Australia’s gas woes
• Basins such as the Beetaloo, Amadeus and Bonaparte are seeing significant activity
• Bonaparte has proven gas fields both offshore and onshore

Much has been made about the expected gas supply crunch that Australia’s eastern states will face in the coming years and equally how new sources of supply are needed to address this.

The AEMO has forecast that the annual supply gap would increase in magnitude from 2028 as southern gas production declines.

This has led to calls for the relevant governments to open up new areas in existing basins, targeting untapped offshore basins, overturning laws preventing the use of fracture stimulation in certain states, and diverting gas meant for export towards domestic use.

Gas supporters are unlikely to find much support from the recently released budget with Treasurer Jim Chalmers saying there won’t be any new money for gas – outside of the already promised $566m over 10 years for GeoScience Australia to map Australia’s soil and seabed.

That said, the federal government’s new gas strategy provides hope that efforts will be made to streamline gas project approvals in order to ensure supply is maintained.

And the conversation about the gas supply shortage and its solutions isn’t just restricted to the eastern states.

The Northern Territory has also seen a fair amount of attention given its own supply woes and rich potential in areas such as the Beetaloo and Bonaparte basins.

Gas supply in the territory has been impacted by the downturn in supply from the offshore Blacktop field to the point that blackouts were experienced.

This same shortfall has led to the closure of the Northern Gas Pipeline (NGP) that transports gas out of the NT to the eastern states, impacting on manufacturing groups such as Incitec Pivot, which had to shut operations in Queensland due to the pipeline closure.

Untapped gas potential

While the NT is facing its own gas supply woes, it also has the potential to not only address its own issues but go a long way towards meeting the needs of the eastern states.

The territory is home to several very significant oil and gas basins, three of which have drawn significantly more attention.

The Beetaloo Basin (in blue). Pic: Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources

First up is the Beetaloo Sub-basin, which if its pundits are to be believed will solve all our gas supply woes if only the Federal and territory governments stepped up with regulatory approvals and some funding (pretty please) towards infrastructure or tax breaks for exploration.

At first glance, there’s plenty going for it.

The 28,000km2 sub-basin – part of the larger 180,000km2 McArthur Basin – about 500km southwest of Darwin has been estimated by the NT government to host some 500 trillion cubic feet of in-place gas resources just in the proven Velkerri B layer.

Existing infrastructure includes the Stuart, Barkly, Roper and Carpentaria Highways, the Adelaide-Darwin railway, regional airports and – perhaps most importantly – three existing gas pipelines with the Northern Gas Pipeline linking the Amadeus Gas Pipeline to the East Coast market.

While in-place resources are not considered to be an accurate measure of just how much gas (or oil) is actually present – as it is an estimate of how much gas might be present if the target reservoir was filled to the brim, it nonetheless provides a hint of its potential.

Even if just 10% of this amount is recoverable, 50Tcf of gas is equivalent to about 25 years’ worth of domestic gas demand.

That said while there is little doubt that the target shales in the Beetaloo are prospective for gas, shale formations typically have very low permeability meaning that you often need to drill horizontal sections that require fracture stimulation before you are able to get commercial gas flow rates. Read here for a little explanation into the process.

Despite this, companies operating in this region include major companies such as Santos (ASX:STO) though its focus seems to be elsewhere at the moment along with juniors such as Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) and Tamboran Resources (ASX:TBN) .

Tamboran has demonstrated the ability of the Velkerri B shale to produce gas with its Shenandoah South 1H well flowing 3.2 million cubic feet per day from a 501m stimulated length within the mid-Velkerri B.

The second basin of note is the mature Amadeus Basin that is the source of practically all of the NT’s onshore gas production, specifically from Central Petroleum (ASX:CTP) Mereenie, Palm Valley and Dingo fields.

During the March 2024 quarter, CTP’s sales volumes were down 13% to 1.03 petajoules of gas equivalent due to the closure of the NGP from mid-February though they have increased in April under a new supply agreement with the Power & Water Corporation.

Other companies operating in the Amadeus include Greenvale Energy (ASX:GRV), which holds a 75% interest in EP 145 from Mosman Oil and Gas.

EP 145 hosts an existing best estimate prospective resource of 440 billion cubic feet of natural gas, 26.4Bcf of helium and 26.4Bcf of hydrogen and is on trend with the producing Mereenie oil and gas field.

Preparations are underway for a seismic program that will be completed in August 2024 to guide targeting for drilling in 2025.

Bonaparte has proven potential

The remaining area that could address supply shortfalls in the NT and beyond is the Bonaparte Basin.

Already known as being one of the most successful basins for petroleum exploration and production both onshore and offshore Australia, the success rate at the Bonaparte Basin is extremely high, making it a significant source of liquids and gas to the domestic and export markets.

Notable examples of fields in this area include the shut-in Blacktip field and the Petrel, Tern and Frigate fields that have total undeveloped Contingent Resources of 2.7 trillion cubic feet of gas.

While most of the ~270,000km2 area is offshore, the Bonaparte also includes about 20,000km onshore Northern Territory.

While the onshore area was previously difficult to commercialise due to the lack of infrastructure, this has been addressed by the recent construction of a new highway through the area.

Advent’s RL1 licence. Pic: Advent Energy

This is music to the ears of BPH Energy (ASX:BPH), which holds a 36% interest in unlisted company Advent Energy, as said highway passes within 4.5km of Advent’s Weaber gas discoveries.

Advent holds 100% of RL1 in the onshore Bonaparte that has firm 2C (best estimate) contingent resources of 11.5 billion cubic feet for the Weaber gas field.

Weaber appraisal wells have already proven the ability to produce gas at potentially commercial flow rates.

It recently received a five-year extension to RL1, which BPH managing director David Breeze says places Advent in a position to commercialise the area.

This has the potential to feed the territory’s gas needs.

Nor is BPH the only junior looking to explore the riches of the Bonaparte Basin.

Vintage Energy (ASX:VEN) holds EP 126, which includes the cased and suspended Cullen-1 well that intersected oil and gas shows.

The 6716km2 permit has multiple play types that have the potential to host large volumes though half of the area has been declared a “Reserved Area” by the NT government.

Source: https://stockhead.com.au/

On 14 May 2024, the Australian federal government handed down the Federal Budget 2024-25 which delivered an investment of AUD 22.7 billion over the next decade to build a Future Made in Australia.

The Future Made in Australia plan seeks to maximize the economic and industrial benefits of the move to a net zero transition, and secure Australia’s place in a changing global economic and strategic landscape. The agenda is now taking steps to encourage significant private sector investment into priority industries that are viewed as necessary to ensure Australia’s future prosperity.

National Interest Framework

As part of the Future Made in Australia plan, the government will create a Future Made in Australia Act and establish a National Interest Framework to guide the identification of priority industries and prudent investments in the national interest.

Five industries are aligned with the National Interest Framework as follows:

• Renewable hydrogen;
• Critical minerals processing;
• Green metals;
• Low carbon liquid fuels; and
• Clean energy manufacturing, including battery and solar panel supply chains.

New production tax incentives

The budget announced targeted production incentives to scale up priority industries. This will align tax incentives to investments in the national interest, target "green premiums" that are not yet reflected in market prices, and enable investment in economic resilience and security, including by shoring up and diversifying supply chains.

• An AUD 6.7 billion Hydrogen Production Tax Incentive will provide an incentive of AUD 2 per kilogram of renewable hydrogen produced for up to 10 years per project, between 2027–28 and 2039–40 for projects that reach final investment decisions by 2030. This will operate alongside the expanded Hydrogen Headstart program, which supports the early movers investing in the industry’s development.
• An AUD 7 billion Critical Minerals Production Tax Incentive will provide a production incentive valued at 10% of relevant processing and refining costs for Australia’s 31 critical minerals. This incentive will also be applicable for up to 10 years per project, for production between 2027–28 and 2039–40 by projects that reach final investment decisions by 2030.

Both of these incentives will be subject to industry consulatation before their implementation. 

Key industry funding measures

The budget introduced significant industry funding measures to support the identified priority industries under the National Interest Framework which include:  

• AUD 1.7 billion Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund: Designed to drive innovation and commercialization of innovative technologies and facilities linked to priority sectors, including green metals, batteries, and low carbon fuels;
• AUD 1.5 billion ARENA funding: Supporting the commercialization of technologies that are critical to net zero over the next decade;
• AUD 1 billion Solar Sunshot Program: Intended to incentivize private investment in Australia's solar panel manufacturing capabilities;
• AUD 1.3 billion Hydrogen Headstart: Supporting early industry movers through an additional round of the Hydrogen Headstart program;
• AUD 523.2 million Battery Breakthrough Initiative: Aimed at promoting the development of battery manufacturing capabilities through targeted production incentives;
• AUD 1.2 billion Critical Minerals investment: Providing strategic investment in priority projects through the Critical Minerals Facility (AUD 655 million), Northern Australian Infrastructure Facility (AUD 400 million), and supporting the funding of pre‑feasibility studies for common user precincts; and
• AUD 165.7 million Defence Industry Development Grant program: Increasing the scale and competitiveness of the Australian defense industry.

Content provided by Deloitte Australia.

Liability limited by a scheme approved under Professional Standards Legislation.

Source: https://www.taxathand.com/article/34431/Australia/2024/Future-Made-in-Australia-key-incentives-and-funding-