Structural reform and petroleum (environment) regulations in the Northern Territory

This article, written by JPT Technology Editor Chris Carpenter, contains highlights of paper SPE 182404, “Unconventional-Resources Exploration and Development in the Northern Territory—Challenges From a Regulator’s Perspective,” by M. Rezazadeh, J. van Hattum, and D. Marozzi, Northern Territory Department of Mines and Energy, prepared for the 2016 SPE Asia Pacific Oil and Gas Conference and Exhibition, Perth, Australia, 25–27 October. The paper has not been peer reviewed. The production of conventional onshore oil and gas in Australia’s Northern Territory began in 1983 from the Palm Valley Field (gas) in the Amadeus Basin. Until 2010, the industry relied on conventional oil and gas development technology, but, in recent years, the focus of the industry has shifted to unconventional-resource exploration. This paper outlines the key issues that must be addressed from a regulatory perspective in regard to the development of an onshore unconventional-gas industry in the Northern Territory. Introduction In the Northern Territory, the Department of Mines and Energy (DME) is the agency responsible for regulating the exploration and production of oil and gas and the administration of petroleum tenures and petroleum pipelines onshore and in designated coastal waters up to 3 nautical miles seaward from the Territorial Sea Baseline of the Northern Territory. The DME’s role is to ensure that best-practice regulatory principles are applied for the sustainable and safe exploration and production of natural resources in the Northern Territory. In the Northern Territory, hydraulic fracturing has taken place since 1967, mainly as a process to enhance hydrocarbon production from conventional reservoirs with vertical wells. Since 2011, however, hydraulic fracturing has been carried out during exploration for unconventional hydrocarbons. Until now, developmental drilling has taken place only in producing fields in the Amadeus Basin. In the McArthur, Bonaparte, South Georgina, and Pedirka Basins, exploration activities are ongoing. Onshore Northern Territory oil production comes from the Mereenie and Surprise Fields. Until November 2015, onshore gas production in the Northern Territory came from the Mereenie and Palm Valley Fields. In December 2015, the Dingo Field began producing gas. In 2015, 3,703 MMscf of gas was produced from the three fields. Current Northern Territory Onshore Petroleum Regulatory Framework The Northern Territory Petroleum Act is the principal existing legislation regulating oil and gas exploration and production. The DME currently uses the Schedule of Onshore Petroleum Exploration and Production Requirements (referred to here as the Schedule) to regulate petroleum activities; this guideline is similar to that which Western Australia previously used. In 2015, Western Australia replaced the Schedule with its Petroleum Resource Management and Administration Regulations. The Schedule is used to provide requirements to regulate and audit all petroleum activities.

The impact of a minimum unit price on wholesale alcohol supply trends in the Northern Territory, Australia

Three years of minimum unit pricing in the Northern Territory, what does the evidence say?

The case for government-run liquor stores in the Australian Northern Territory: Looking outside the box in regulating the supply of alcohol.

According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the term coalition comes from the Latin coalescere or ‘coalesce’, meaning “come or bring together to form one mass or whole”. Coalesce refers to the unity affirmed as something grows: co – “together”, alesce – “to grow up”. While coalition is commonly associated with formalised alliances and political strategy in the name of self-interest and common goals, this paper will draw as well on the broader etymological understanding of coalition as “growing together” in order to discuss the Australian government’s recent changes to land rights legislation, the 2007 Emergency Intervention into the Northern Territory, and its decision to use Indigenous land in the Northern Territory as a dumping ground for nuclear waste.

Aims: To develop an interim classification of the vegetation of the Northern Territory at the International Vegetation Classification (IVC) division (level 4) and macrogroup (level 5) levels. These types are produced to assist in the development of an integrated nationwide plot and floristically based classification of Australia allowing integration within a global perspective. Study Area: The Northern Territory of Australia covers an area of 1.42 million square kilometres, almost 20% of Australia’s land mass. It comprises three distinct climatic zones including tropical, subtropical and arid vegetation types. Methods: We used collated vegetation data held by two organisations: the Northern Territory Government, Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security and the Terrestrial Ecosystem Research Network (a total of 45,710 plots used). We applied semi-supervised quantitative classification methods to define vegetation types at the IVC division and macrogroup levels. Analyses used kR-CLUSTER methods on presence/absence data. Macrogroups were characterised by taxa with the highest frequency of occurrence across plots. Additional analyses were conducted (cluster) to elucidate interrelationships between macrogroups and to assist in the assessment of division level typology. Results: We propose 21 macrogroups and place these within higher thematic levels of the IVC. Conclusions: We found that the IVC hierarchy and associated standard procedures and protocols provide a useful classification tool for Australian ecosystems. The divisions and macrogroups provide a valid framework for subsequent analysis of Northern Territory vegetation types at the detailed levels of the IVC. A consistent typology for the Northern Territory (and hopefully in future, for all of Australia) has numerous benefits, in that they can be used for various applications using a well-structured, systematic and authoritative description and classification that is placed in a continental and global context, readily enabling the one system to be used in studies from the local to global level. Taxonomic reference: Northern Territory Herbarium (2022). Abbreviations: DVT = Definitive Vegetation Type; IVC = International Vegetation Classification; nMDS = non-metric multidimensional scaling; NT = Northern Territory; NTVSD = Northern Territory Vegetation Site Database; NVIS = National Vegetation Information System; WA = Western Australia.

Richard Sellers is the executive director of minerals and energy in the Northern Territory and has extensive experience with the management of natural resources and working specifically with business, regional and Indigenous groups on development programs. He has previously held roles as Executive Director—Fisheries and Director—Legal and Policy in the former Northern Territory Department of Primary Industry and Fisheries. This paper covers the annual presentation of exploration activity in onshore and coastal waters in Australia’s states and the Northern Territory. Included is a summary of upstream petroleum acreage opportunities for 2009 in the states and Northern Territory as well as geothermal energy exploration opportunities. While there have been increasing levels of exploration in recent years, there are large areas that remain under explored and the opportunity for future discoveries remains. State and the Northern Territory Governments have continued to undertake initiatives to attract and facilitate accelerated exploration and promote nationally and internationally these opportunities in frontier and production areas.

Photo 1. Authors Ben Phillips and John Moreen releasing the first batch of northern quolls (Dasyurus hallucatus) on Indian Island (Kabarl), Northern Territory, Australia. This project was a collaborative effort between several stakeholders, including the Flora and Fauna Division, Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Northern Territory Government, the Territory Wildlife Park, Northern Territory Government, and Kenbi Rangers. The study was conducted on Kenbi country with permission from and in collaboration with the Kenbi Traditional Owners (Raylene and Zoe Sigh) and the assistance of Kenbi Rangers. Photo credit: Chris Jolly. Photo 2. Male northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) fitted with a radio-collar immediately following release on Indian Island (Kabarl), Northern Territory, Australia. Photo credit: Chris Jolly. Photo 3. Beach on northern Indian Island (Kabarl) covered in northern quoll (Dasyurus hallucatus) prints in the months following their introduction in 2017. Photo credit: Chris Jolly. These photographs illustrate the article “Trophic cascade driven by behavioral fine-tuning as naïve prey rapidly adjust to a novel predator” by C. J. Jolly, A. S. Smart, J. Moreen, J. K. Webb, G. R. Gillespie, and B. L. Phillips published in Ecology. https://doi.org/10.1002/ecy.3363.

Presented on Wednesday 18 May: Session 11 The INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture has established strong partnerships with the Northern Territory Government (NTG), cultural organisations and Traditional Owner groups in the Northern Territory to deliver social and environmental offset programs. The key governance model for delivery of the offset programs is the Ichthys Project Voluntary Offset Agreement (IPVOA), which commits $91 M AUD over a 40-year period through a suite of offset programs. This paper focuses on the journey to partner with the NTG-run Aboriginal Ranger Grants Program (ARGP). Through the IPVOA, INPEX and its Ichthys Joint Venture participants will contribute $24 M AUD over 22 years, to the ARGP, for Aboriginal Ranger programs addressing specific species and their associated habitat throughout the Top End. This is the first time where industry has contributed to the ARGP to deliver positive outcomes in the NT. This has been achieved by fostering collaborative, engaging and trustworthy relationships with the Commonwealth and NT governments; engaging with the Aboriginal Land Management Advisory Group; and meeting with Aboriginal Ranger groups. The key has been finding a common ground between the perspectives and the priorities of all stakeholders for how best to deliver conservation management on country in the NT. This common ground is likely to evolve over the next 22 years as the INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture and NTG deliver environmental outcomes, promote a connection to country and empower Aboriginal Ranger groups to better manage their country for future generations. To access the presentation click the link on the right. To read the full paper click here

The INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture has established strong partnerships with the Northern Territory Government (NTG), cultural organisations and Traditional Owner groups in the Northern Territory to deliver social and environmental offset programs. The key governance model for delivery of the offset programs is the Ichthys Project Voluntary Offset Agreement (IPVOA), which commits $91 M AUD over a 40-year period through a suite of offset programs. This paper focuses on the journey to partner with the NTG-run Aboriginal Ranger Grants Program (ARGP). Through the IPVOA, INPEX and its Ichthys Joint Venture participants will contribute $24 M AUD over 22 years, to the ARGP, for Aboriginal Ranger programs addressing specific species and their associated habitat throughout the Top End. This is the first time where industry has contributed to the ARGP to deliver positive outcomes in the NT. This has been achieved by fostering collaborative, engaging and trustworthy relationships with the Commonwealth and NT governments; engaging with the Aboriginal Land Management Advisory Group; and meeting with Aboriginal Ranger groups. The key has been finding a common ground between the perspectives and the priorities of all stakeholders for how best to deliver conservation management on country in the NT. This common ground is likely to evolve over the next 22 years as the INPEX-led Ichthys Joint Venture and NTG deliver environmental outcomes, promote a connection to country and empower Aboriginal Ranger groups to better manage their country for future generations.

The Alice Springs survey covered ~373,000 km2 in central Australia stretching north for 666 km from the border with South Australia and ~610 km from east to west. After preliminary airphoto interpretation and two field programs, more detailed mapping identified 112 types of land that were grouped into 88 land systems. Most have an area of between 260 km2 to 16,500 km2 but four small systems are less than 130 km2 and two are close to 100,000 km2. The 88 land systems described in the report have from three to 11 land units. In all, 561 units are described in terms of their relative area, landforms, soils and plant communities and their distribution is shown on illustrative block diagrams. General descriptions are given for the location, geology and geomorphology, climate and water resources of the land systems. Individual chapters describe: Climate — principal controls and general characteristics and their relation to plant growth and animal production Geology — lithological, structural and stratigraphic units and their influence on land systems Mineral Deposits — products and where they occur Water Resources — surface and groundwater occurrence and hydrology and irrigation resources Geomorphology — three broad physiographic regions (central ranges, southern desert basins and northern plains and uplands); land systems grouped into four characteristic landform classes Soils — frequency of eight soil groups with 42 sub-groups in relation to land systems and issues for irrigation, earthworks and soil conservation Vegetation — distribution of vegetation types and communities Natural Pastures — pasture types and their recurrence in typical patterns called pasture lands Present and Potential Land Use — relations to climate, grazing value of pasture lands, stock water, pasture improvement and agricultural requirements. Map 1 — Land Systems of the Alice Springs area, Northern Territory, Australia by RA Perry, JA Mabbutt, WH Litchfield and T Quinlan. Scale 1:1,000,000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 6, 1960. Map 2 — Geology of the Alice Springs area, Northern Territory by T Quinlin. Scale 1:1,000,000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 6,1960. Map 3 — Pasture Lands of the Alice Springs area, Northern Territory, Australia by RA Perry. Scale 1:1 000 000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 6, 1960. The maps were digitised by the Northern Territory Government with permission of CSIRO. Access to the digital files can be obtained from the NT Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sports. Editor's Note: The area is now important for tourism and nature conservation as well as pastoralism. The population of Alice Springs was ~3,500 at the time of the survey and exceeds 26,000 in 2011.

The Northern Territory Government is working with industry, the Australian Government and CSIRO to accelerate development of the Middle Arm of Darwin Harbour into a globally competitive, sustainable industrial development precinct for low-emission hydrocarbons, hydrogen production, carbon capture and storage (CCS) and minerals processing. This project will significantly reduce Northern Territory emissions and catalyse growth of new industries driving low-emissions energy transition and providing a sustainable future Northern Territory economic growth. The Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct masterplan provides for a range of development scenarios that incorporate integrated large-scale renewable energy and carbon capture, utilisation and storage (CCUS) infrastructure. Master planning of this greenfields site provides significant benefits including optimising the use of existing and shared infrastructure, resulting in reduced impacts and maximised economic benefits. This provides Industry with greater certainty, reduces the burden of pre-approvals and creates an investment-ready industrial precinct with ready access to key marine, road and rail transport facilities, utilities and other shared services. This provides an advantage over existing precincts around the globe, which may need to be retrofitted at greater cost and impact. When combined with decarbonisation of the existing gas industry at Middle Arm, there is unique opportunity to develop new low-emissions industries within the Northern Territory and supply low-emission energy and products to the Southeast Asian markets. This paper provides an overview of the Middle Arm Sustainable Development Precinct, its integration with the existing Northern Territory gas industry, the minerals industry and renewable energy, and CCS projects.

The Alligator Rivers area survey covered ~35,750 km2, enclosing the catchments of the Alligator River and Cooper Creek and the eastern part of the South Alligator catchment. It covered the western part of Arnhem Land Aboriginal Reserve and most of the area then proposed for Kakadu National Park. A part of the area was described in earlier reports for the Katherine–Darwin area (No. 1) and Adelaide–Alligator area (No. 25). The latter covered the remainder of the South Alligator River catchment and has 20 land systems in common with this survey area. The survey was conducted in 1972–73 to provide information for a balanced assessment of the implications of coincident proposals for uranium mining and a national park. The Balonne–Maranoa report (No. 34) adopted a new approach to description of land systems and land units, first identifying and describing homogenous types of country as land units, then grouping them into land systems using a new nomenclature reflecting parent material, relief and vegetation. This report further modified the approach. It gives a general description of each land system with more detailed descriptions of each component land unit. Land systems are of mappable extent and an artificial key is provided to assist identification. Land units are (usually) too small to map but more detailed information for each unit is provided to assist identification on the ground. The report has seven individual disciplinary chapters: Climate and Water Balance Geology Geomorphology Soils Vegetation Erosion Land Use There are three appendices that: describe 15 soil families list plants with their common names show correlations between soil conditions and plant growth Map 1 — Land Systems of the Alligator Rivers area, Northern Territory by R Story, RW Galloway, JM Aldrick and MAJ Williams. Scale 1:250,000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 38, 1976. Map 2 — Soils of the Alligator Rivers area, Northern Territory by JM Aldrick. Scale 1:500,000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 38, 1976. Map 3 — Vegetation of the Alligator Rivers area, Northern Territory by R Story. Scale 1:500,000. CSIRO Land Research Series No. 38, 1976. The maps were digitised by the Northern Territory Government with permission of CSIRO. Access to the digital files can be obtained from the NT Department of Natural Resources, Environment, the Arts and Sports Editor's Note: Prospecting had led to the Ranger uranium discovery in 1969. Mining commenced in 1980. A national park was proposed in 1965 but Stage 1 was not established until 1979.

Advancing Indigenous self-determination and health equity: Lessons from a failed Australian public policy

BackgroundBronchiectasis is a chronic pulmonary disorder which is prevalent among Australian First Nations people in the Northern Territory (NT). Current guidelines recommend physiotherapy as part of multi-disciplinary management of children with bronchiectasis, however in our setting, involvement of physiotherapy remains unknown. We thus undertook a retrospective chart audit to examine physiotherapy management of First Nations children (<18 years) from remote First Nations communities in the Top End of the NT at the index bronchiectasis diagnosis and 12 months following diagnosis.MethodsParticipants were identified from a larger prospective study of children investigated for bronchiectasis at Royal Darwin Hospital, NT (2007–2016). Children were included if they were First Nations, aged <18 years, had a radiological diagnosis of bronchiectasis on high resolution computed tomography scan and lived in a remote community serviced by NT Government health clinics. The medical records from NT Government hospitals, health clinics and where possible other medical service attendance were reviewed for physiotherapy referral and management at the time of bronchiectasis diagnosis and in the following 12 months in the community.ResultsOf 143 children included, the mean age was 3.1 (standard deviation 2.4) years and 84 (58.7%) were males. At the index diagnosis, 76/122 (62.3%) children were reviewed by a physiotherapist, consisting of airway clearance techniques (83.8%), physical activity/exercise (81.7%) and caregiver education (83.3%), with only 7/127 (5.5%) having evidence of referral for community-based physiotherapy. In the following 12 months, only 11/143 (7.7%) children were reviewed by a physiotherapist, consisting of airway clearance techniques (54.5%), physical activity/exercise (45.5%) and caregiver education (36.4%).ConclusionThis study demonstrates a significant gap in the provision of physiotherapy services in our setting and the need to develop a standardized pathway, to support the best practice management of children with bronchiectasis in remote Top End communities of the NT.