A region in Australia has recently lifted a moratorium on fracking. Local companies aim to begin this year exploration of what they believe are huge shale gas reserves, potentially capable of providing natural gas supply for decades and tackling a supply gap in Australia expected to emerge in the mid-2020s. Australian natural gas producers say that the shale gas fracking will create jobs and reinvigorate the economy of the Northern Territory, where the basins they want to explore are located. The Australian government also supports the idea of extracting gas resources from the Northern Territory (NT), considering that conventional offshore gas production from the south-southeastern coast is declining. However, potential commercial production of shale gas in the NT is at least half a decade away, because companies have yet to begin exploration of what they expect could be huge resources. Even if exploration proves commercially and technically extractable gas, […]