Australian Natural Gas Exploration Investment Reaches $329 Million in Q1 2026, Highest in Ten Years

Australian investment in natural gas exploration reached the equivalent of $329 million in the first quarter of 2026, the highest total in ten years, OilPrice.com reported. Government data showed the increase occurred as the country responded to supply pressures. Rystad Energy forecast a 10 percent rise in spending for the full year, pushing the annual total above $1 billion.

Vice president Krishan Pal Birda said renewed interest in frontier and unconventional plays stems from modern techniques that reduce development risks. New South Wales issued its first natural gas exploration tender in ten years earlier in 2026. Queensland endorsed the Taroom Trough project in April, a step that would mark the first new oil project approval in Australia in fifty years if completed.

Exploration activity centers on the Otway Basin offshore Victoria, the Beetaloo shale formation in the Northern Territory, and the Taroom Trough in Queensland. The Beetaloo Basin holds an estimated 500 trillion cubic feet of gas, and the Northern Territory government has stated it hopes the formation will establish the territory as an additional LNG production hub.

Australia ranks as the world’s second-largest LNG exporter.