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Pipeline to Nowhere:

APA Group’s dangerous bet on Beetaloo fracking

Introduction

APA Group (APA), Australia’s largest gas pipeline operator, has consistently advocated for the development of massive gas fracking operations in the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo sub-Basin, despite these plans’ incompatibility with global climate goals.

APA plans to build gas pipelines for Beetaloo Energy Australia (formerly Empire Energy) and Tamboran Resources, enabling what could be Australia’s biggest ever fracking development.

Market Forces analysis reveals:

  • Australia does not need the gas from Beetaloo fracking for domestic gas power generation needs.
  • Beetaloo fracking plans are costly, highly polluting and unnecessary.

    The astronomical costs ($2.7 – $4bn) of APA’s planned pipeline would be passed on to consumers on Australia’s east coast.

  • Australia doesn’t have a gas supply problem – it has an LNG export problem.

    Despite APA Group’s claims that fracking Beetaloo will benefit the domestic market, if fully realised, Beetaloo Energy’s plans would see 83% of the gas it fracks exported overseas.

  • The burning of fracked gas from Beetaloo would worsen the climate crisis and drastically undermine Australia’s climate commitments, when we need to transition to clean energy solutions.

APA must rule out the construction of pipelines connecting the Beetaloo sub-Basin to the east coast gas network and the Middle Arm precinct in Darwin.

It is time for APA to align with a responsible, renewable energy-driven future rather than developing costly and high-risk new fossil fuel projects.

Email APA Group and tell it to end its involvement in Beetaloo fracking!

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TOOK ACTION: APA Group email action - gas volumes analysis update - July 2025

Key findings

1

Market Forces analysis reveals fracking the Beetaloo sub-Basin would produce nearly 9.5 times the entire gas required for Australia’s National Electricity Market (NEM) for the next 25 years. It would take Australia’s NEM 237 years to use this much gas despite Australia’s net-zero by 2050 commitment.

2

Australia has more than enough gas for domestic consumption. Less than two years (21 months) of liquefied natural gas (LNG) exports from just one state – Queensland – would cover all the gas required for Australian gas power generation in the NEM for the next 25 years.

3

The real goal of fracking the Beetaloo is more LNG exports at the expense of safe groundwater, health impacts and harmful pollution. Over the long term, Beetaloo Energy wants to export 83% of gas produced from fracking Beetaloo.

4

Market Forces analysis finds that Tamboran Resources has likely grossly understated the amount of gas it would be exporting overseas. Tamboran’s claimed 50/50 split between exports and domestic market supply is based on very generous assumptions about the amount of Beetaloo gas needed in Australia’s east coast domestic gas market. These unrealistic assumptions, coupled with Tamboran’s active pursuit of a new LNG export facility in the Northern Territory, highlight that significantly more than 50% of Tamboran’s production will likely be exported. 

5

AEMO’s latest Gas Statement of Opportunities 2025 (GSOO 2025) highlights a drop of more than 7% in required gas volumes for gas power generation in the NEM and the Northern Territory compared to its 2024 GSOO, with electrification and renewable energy contributing to the decline.

6

Beetaloo gas is significantly more expensive than Queensland gas. AEMO’s GSOO 2025 estimates Beetaloo gas to be over 53% more expensive than Queensland’s Bowen/Surat comparable 2C resources. Beetaloo gas is also nearly three times (176%) more expensive than existing Queensland Bowen/Surat 2P gas reserves.

7

Based on APA’s own cost estimates, Market Forces calculates that the cost for APA to build a new large-scale Beetaloo to east coast pipeline would be an astronomical $2.7bn to $4bn, adding further costs that would be passed on to consumers on Australia’s east coast.

8

Australia doesn’t have a gas supply problem; it has an LNG export problem. New gas supply doesn’t reduce prices. Over the past 10 years, despite east coast Australia more than doubling natural gas production (2.1 times increase), wholesale gas prices in the same eastern Australia market have more than quadrupled (4.2 times increase).

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