Donald Trump’s nomination for energy secretary has connections to fracking operations for gas in the Beetaloo basin in the Northern Territory.
Chris Wright is the chief executive of Liberty Energy, a company that provides services to the oil and gas industry across North America.
US gas company Tamboran Resources announced in 2023 it had struck a partnership with Liberty Energy for the delivery of fracking equipment to drill wells in the Beetaloo basin between Katherine and Tennant Creek.
Under the deal, Liberty Energy made a $15.2m equity investment for a “frac fleet” to support the largest fracking operations in the Beetaloo basin to date at Tamboran’s Shenandoah South pilot project.
Wright said at the time that significant Beetaloo gas production “could help energise Australia’s future and help meet Asia’s insatiable demand for natural gas to power economic growth, improve air quality and lower greenhouse gas emissions”.
“Beetaloo development perfectly aligns with our broader mission to better human lives,” he said.
If confirmed by the US Senate, Wright is expected to support Trump’s plan to maximise production of oil and gas in the US.
He is also likely to share Trump’s opposition to global cooperation on fighting the climate crisis. Wright has called climate activists alarmist and has likened efforts by Democrats to combat global heating to Soviet-style communism.
“This appointment highlights how powerful US figures with deep connections to the Trump administration are driving fracking in the Northern Territory,” said Hannah Ekin from the Arid Lands Environment Centre.
“The opening up of the NT for fracking was never about Territorians – it’s always been about appeasing big American shale players.”
Ekin said US gas companies invested in the NT’s gas reserves “don’t understand the Territory beyond its petroleum reserves”.
“They don’t understand its people or culture,” she said.
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Market Forces oil and gas campaigner Rachel Deans said: “American companies Tamboran and Empire want energy dominance in global markets, but Australians want clean drinking water and a safe future free from floods and bushfires fuelled by fossil fuel pollution.”
In April, the former NT Labor government announced it had signed a nine-year sales agreement with Tamboran to buy fracked gas from the Shenandoah South pilot project.
The agreement was for the purchase of 40 terajoules of gas per day from 2026 from Tamboran’s Shenandoah South pilot project, with an option to extend for a further six years out to 2042.
Pressure has been mounting on the Albanese government to use its powers under the federal water trigger to assess the impacts of pilot fracking projects in the Beetaloo basin on groundwater resources.
In September, the environment and water minister Tanya Plibersek asked the government-appointed Independent Scientific Expert Committee to provide advice about the potential impact of gas exploration on water resources in the 28,000 sq km basin.
Comment has been sought from Tamboran Resources.
– with Reuters
