>I agree. That would make common sense, first need to prove the existence of the gas reserve, and then build the pipeline.

Well after spending a lot of time on the Beetaloo over the last few days, it became quite obvious that this is a very large oil play. Ben Law thinks there is a BCGA at the center, but that's probably not the reason Falcon bought into it.

There were 11 wells drilled back in the late 80's by Pacific Oil & Gas, with very promising oil shows. The general theory is that the free flowing oil has migrated, and now it needs to be found. Modern seismic should help with that. Not much info can be found on Pacific, other than the article citation below. The "innovative methods" they refer to are now quite popular.....horizontal drilling and fracing!

Oil and Gas Journal ; Vol/Issue: 92:26 June 1994

A previously unexplored sub-basin of the Precambrian McArthur basin in northern Australia is developing into an exciting new petroleum province. Exploration by Pacific Oil Gas Pty. Ltd. the past 7 years has indicated that vast amounts of hydrocarbon have been generated from thick, highly organic rich shales present throughout the Beetaloo sub-basin. Several potential sandstone reservoirs are conveniently situated to be charged from the source units. Pacific has recovered oil and gas from these sandstones in several exploration wells demonstrating that maturation, migration, and preservation of hydrocarbons have been effective within the sub-basin. With only a few poorly defined targets drilled to date, more exploration is required to assess fully the hydrocarbon potential of the Beetaloo sub-basin. In addition to exploration for conventionally trapped oil and gas, Pacific has also been evaluating innovative methods to recover the immense resource of unmigrated live oil present within the source units. The paper discusses regional geology, Pacific`s exploration, source and maturity, the reservoir, structure, and the potential for this area.