Empire Energy (ASX:EEG) has confirmed the NT government has delivered environmental approvals for Carpentaria.

Technically, the company’s Environment Management Plan (EMP) has been approved for the Carpentaria Pilot Project, allowing up to 9 new wells to be sunk; installation of a small plant and other above ground facilities.

Notably, the company also has the rights for that above ground infrastructure to facilitate access to the McArthur River Pipeline, allowing for gas sales.

Those gas sales are the last thing the company is required to lock in to get going.

“Final regulatory approval for the Carpentaria Pilot Project to proceed is the sale of gas under the Beneficial Use of Test Gas provisions of the NT Petroleum Act. Stakeholder consultation processes are well advanced,” the company wrote on Friday.

(Stakeholder consultation processes which are a pre-requisite for the sale of gas.)

A drill rig – Ensign #965 – is now on-site and the first well, Carpentaria-5H, is set to be drilled “imminently.”

“The Empire team continues to progress towards pilot production from the Beetaloo Basin, which will provide much needed gas supply for the people of the Northern Territory under the gas sales agreement Empire signed with the NT Government earlier this year,” EEG MD Alex Underwood said.

“This regulatory approval aligns with the NT Government’s support for Empire and the development of the broader Beetaloo Basin.

“[This] is expected to create thousands of jobs, put downward pressure on energy prices across the NT and Eastern Australia, and has the potential to drive a resurgence of manufacturing in the Northern Territory.”

EEG last traded at 18.5cps.

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