Australia’s natural gas producer, Tamboran Resources Corporation (NYSE:TBN), has asked the Trump administration to invest $US 5 billion in a natural gas-powered data centre to be used for defence and at operations such as Pine Gap. Last week, Tamboran CEO Joel Riddle pitched the idea to U.S. government officials, agencies, and data center investors in a bid to secure public or private investment.

“We think the Northern Territory is well positioned for a substantial data center investment. There is an abundant energy resource, abundant land, existing infrastructure, and a customer that is the Department of Defence,” Riddle said.

Tamboran became a publicly traded company last June after its U.S. IPO. The company owns assets in the Beetaloo shale sub-basin in the Northern Territory, comparable to the biggest U.S. natural gas field–the prolific Marcellus Shale. Australia is the second largest LNG supplier, behind only the U.S.. The country has 10 operating LNG projects located in Western Australia, Queensland and the Northern Territory with a total capacity of 88.6 million tonnes per annum (Mtpa). The Pluto Train 2 project currently under construction will bring total capacity to 93.6 Mtpa (126 Bcm) when it starts operations in 2026. However, Australia’s total LNG exports decreased to 3.531 trillion cubic feet (100 billion cubic meters) in 2023, primarily because of lower production from the NWS LNG project and the suspension of Darwin LNG production. BMI, a Fitch Solutions company, predicted that the country’s LNG exports will fall again in 2024 to 3.425 trillion cubic feet (97 billion cubic meters) after reaching a record high of 3.567 trillion cubic feet (101 billion cubic meters) in 2022. The decline was attributed to delays in the resumption of feed gas supply for the Darwin LNG project as well as the shutdown of LNG production trains at the Northwest Shelf (NWS) LNG.

By Alex Kimani for Oilprice.com

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