Beetaloo Basin

Northern Territory

Overview

Steam Resources will be constructing a pilot plant in the Beetaloo Basin with estimates showing the region contains 84,000 Petajoules in stored geothermal energy (equivalent to 3.7 billion barrels of oil) and its strategic proximity to the Port of Darwin.

  • The Company currently has 22 applications pending in the Northern Territory.
  • These applications cover the entirety of the Beetaloo Basin.
  • These 22 applications cover in excess of 128,000km2.
  • Proximity to existing and planned infrastructure
  • Bing Bong Port (~310km),
  • Darwin Port (~500km), and
  • Sun Cable (intersecting, see following slide).
  • The Beetaloo East project area contains recent petroleum well drilling indicating potential geothermal heat of over 150°C at approximate.

Planned Infrastructure

Sun Cable

The Company’s Beetaloo Basin and north-west tenure in the Northern Territory are intersected by the planned Sun Cable development.

The Sun Cable project aims to transmit 17 to 20 GW of power from the Northern Territory directly to Singapore via an above ground and underwater power cable.

Sun Cable has announced plans to build construct a solar array near Elliot in the Northern Territory.

Sun Cable investors include Grok Ventures (Mike Cannon-Brookes) and Squadron Energy (Andrew Forrest).

Proposed Pilot Production

  • The Company holds application area GEP 33168, which contains the W1 hole drilled by Origin Energy in 2016.
  • W1 was successfully drilled and logged to a depth of 3,072m with a maximum reported temperature of 151°C.
  • The CSIRO estimates the heat to increase to 212°C at a depth of 4,150m (Fairz 2021).
  • The Company intends to verify these results at GEP 33168 by conducting its own drill testing which it anticipates will replicate or exceed Origin’s results (given new drill targets will be specifically targeted for geothermal results and not hydrocarbons).

Based on the above results of Origin Energy and the initial geological and geophysical desktop work conducted by the Company, it is estimated that GEP 33168 would, on a conservative basis, contain in excess of 84,000 petajoules (PJ) of stored geothermal energy at a depth of 3km. For context, that is the equivalent energy of more than 13.7 billion Barrels of Oil (BOE) (further context of a PJ).

Based on a reasonably assumed 20% heat recovery to surface and 10% electrical conversion, the generating capacity of the field would theoretically in the order of 460,000 GW(h).

  • The Company believes it can bring into production a 12MW, 6-well circuit, binary-cycle geothermal plant within 2 years. This would be a pilot plant with an estimated ground footprint of just 1.1km2. The Beetaloo Basin covers approximately 28,000km2.
  • Based on industry standard operating efficiencies of H2 electrolysis production, this pilot plant would produce 307,692 kilograms of H2 per annum (1 Bar @ 25°C).
  • This represents a gross annual off take value of between $1.53 million and $2.46 million (based on a current $/kg range of $5-$8).

The electrolyser could operate within the Beetaloo or at the Port of Bing Bong (“on the dock”) with the appropriate access to infrastructure.


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