Gas junior Tamboran Resources is seeking to join Origin Energy in the big leagues with a deal to buy into its potentially huge assets in Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

Street Talk understands Tamboran’s been in talks with brokers and investors about a $150 million funding package, with proceeds used to buy into Origin’s Beetaloo.

Sources said Tamboran had brokers Canaccord Genuity and Shaw and Partners involved in the raising, however the bulk of the funds were likely to go to its strategic investors from the United States, where investment bank Credit Suisse has been drafted in.

The deal with Origin, and the funding talks, were said to be well advanced, with investors including Sheffield Holdings and Helmerich & Payne lined up to back the venture.

Helmerich & Payne, a drilling rig owner from the United States, was also expected to help out with equipment, sources said.

Tamboran’s talks come after Origin Energy told investors at its annual results last month that it was seeking to crystallise value in the Beetaloo Basin via a farm down.

Origin has mulled options for the Beetaloo Basin, which it has yet to develop into a producing asset, since the turn of the decade.

“Origin has previously stated a farm-down process is under-way relating to its interest in the Beetaloo, and has held discussions with several parties in recent months encompassing a range of potential outcomes,” Origin’s spokesperson said on Wednesday night.

“No transaction relating to this process has been concluded.”

The talks also comes as Origin also confirmed last month that it was not close to any decision to develop the Northern Territory gas deposit, and it would exclude the venture from its 2030 emission reduction targets.

It would be a huge deal for Tamboran, which has proved to be an ambitious gas junior since listing on the ASX-boards mid last year. The company with a $144 million market capitalisation owns unconventional gas resources in the Northern Territory, also in the Beetaloo.

Its potential deal comes only 10 months after it secured Bryan Sheffield, a big name in the US oil and gas sector, as a cornerstone investor. Sheffield tipped $20 million into the company for a 7.5 per cent stake via his Sheffield Holdings LP, in a raising overseen by stockbroker MST.

Article source: AFR, 15 September 2022