Emerging gas basins of Australia: strategic evaluation of Perth, Taroom Trough and Beetaloo

Australia’s emerging basins are gaining strategic significance within the energy landscape, with the potential to deliver additional domestic gas supply and underpin future liquefied natural gas (LNG) export opportunities. This paper examines trends and opportunities across three emerging onshore gas basins with active play opening operations: the Perth Basin in Western Australia, Queensland’s Taroom Trough within the Bowen Basin and the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Sub-basin. In the Perth Basin, maturation of the deeper Permian play has enabled a pathway for domestic supply and LNG exports from the Waitsia field, while operators progress near-field developments and gas-to-power integration to support system flexibility as coal exits. The Taroom Trough is transitioning towards unconventional basin-centred and tight-gas drilling, with multi-trillion cubic feet of gas resource potential driving exploration by local and major operators. Meanwhile, the Beetaloo Sub-basin is advancing from appraisal to pilot-scale commercialisation of shale gas resources, with first gas sales targeted for 2026 and infrastructure agreements to deliver gas supply to domestic markets and export pathways. Policy and infrastructure developments, including Western Australia’s updated Domestic Gas Policy, new pipeline proposals and expansion of LNG export facilities in the Northern Territory are highlighted as key enablers of investment and market access. The analysis concludes that the gas production outlook indicates declining gas supply beyond the 2030s; therefore, emerging basins could provide critical options for future energy reliability in Australia.