Multi-billion reason to fuel SA economy
South Australia is currently sitting on billions of barrels worth of shale oil, according to independent reports – enough to accelerate the state’s flatline economy.
Linc Energy has released two reports, estimating 3.5 billion to 233 billion barrels of oil yet untapped in South Australia’s far north Arckaringa Basin.
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Australian Property Monitor’s Andrew Wilson told Smart Property Investment that this project would be a significant boost following the loss of the Olympic Dam project last year.
“[It’s] exactly what the doctor ordered in terms of re-inflating the South Australian economy, which has certainly been flatlining at best over the last couple of years," Dr Wilson said.
The project would bring an influx of workers into South Australia, which would be another key driver of Adelaide’s local housing market, he added.
In a recent interview with ABC’s Rebecca Brice, Linc Energy’s chief executive Peter Bond said that the discovery is “bigger than the Cooper Basin and Bass Strait combined.”
“If you stress test it right down and you only took the very sweetest spots in the absolute known areas and you do nothing else, it's about 3.5 billion [barrels] and that's sort of worse-case scenario," he said. "So if you took the 233 billion, well, you're talking Saudi Arabia numbers. It's massive, it's just huge.”
Given South Australia’s relatively weak economy in the national scene and levels of unemployment, Dr Andrew continued, this project would inject confidence back into the state's economy.
“I’m not sure what the time line [is], or how solid the potential for this [project] is in reality, but even the announcement is a positive for the South Australian and Adelaide housing market.”
