Formentera Partners and its Australian operating company, Daly Waters Energy (DWE), have announced the start of natural gas commissioning at the Sturt Plateau Compression Facility (SPCF).
The facility represents the final piece of infrastructure required to begin delivering natural gas from the Beetaloo Basin to homes and businesses across the Northern Territory.
“This is a great day for the Northern Territory,” said Bryan Sheffield, Managing Partner of Formentera.
The SPCF is owned by the SPCF Trust, a 50/50 joint venture between Daly Waters Energy and Tamboran Resources Corporation (NYSE/ASX: TBN).
DWE holds its interest through a wholly owned unit, Daly Waters Infrastructure, while Tamboran operates the project.
The plant has a nameplate capacity of 48.5 MMcf/d (50 TJ/d) of natural gas.
Of that volume, 38.8 MMcf/d (40 TJ/d) is contracted to the Northern Territory government under a take-or-pay agreement that runs for up to 15 years.
All five wells on the Shenandoah South 2 pad have been drilled, completed and tied back to the plant.
The facility was delivered on schedule and within its gross budget of US$99 million, and natural gas will be sold during the commissioning period.
Sheffield pointed to the milestone as evidence of steady execution in a challenging operating environment.
“That’s rare in a frontier basin, and it demonstrates what companies, governments, and local communities can do when they work together.”
He added that the Beetaloo is moving closer to becoming a reliable, long-term supply source for the Territory, building on four years of work that began with a commitment to bring U.S. shale expertise to the region.
Five wells are now tied in, three additional wells are being drilled, and gas is flowing through the facility, marking a step change from exploration toward production.
Formentera first entered the Beetaloo Basin in 2022.
The company now controls 1.9 million net acres, making it one of the largest holders of onshore shale acreage in the basin.
Geologists have noted that the rock formation shares key characteristics with established U.S. shale plays, including the Marcellus Shale in Pennsylvania.
A series of successful appraisal wells has pointed to multi-trillion-cubic-feet potential, suggesting enough natural gas to meet Northern Territory demand while eventually supporting larger population centres and industry along Australia’s East Coast, as well as backfilling and expanding LNG export capacity.
In March 2026, Formentera and DWE partnered with INPEX, one of the world’s leading LNG providers, to accelerate development activity across the basin.
That collaboration was followed in August by an announcement that the group plans to add a Helmerich & Payne FlexRig, with arrival expected in the second quarter of 2027.
Together, the commissioning of the SPCF and the planned rig addition signal a period of expanding activity for the Beetaloo Basin, as partners work to move the resource from early-stage development into a dependable supply source for the Northern Territory and beyond.
