The agreement, announced this morning, has been almost a decade in the making and is a significant step forward for the further appraisal and development of the potentially world-class tight wet gas accumulation in the Canning Basin being developed by Buru (50% and operator) and Mitsubishi Corporation (50%).
The agreement was signed with the Yungngora Aboriginal Corporation, which represents the traditional owners of the area of the Noonkanbah Pastoral Station in the Kimberley region.
The deal is the next step in bringing economic benefits to the Canning Basin and builds on an earlier agreement that Buru secured with three native title groups to allow for the development of the now shut-in Ungani oil field.
Buru executive chairman Eric Streitberg told Energy News this agreement "works as a roadmap to development, and will hopefully be a template for other agreements in the superbasin".
Streitberg, who has been working in the remote basin on and off since his time with Occidental Petroleum in the 1980s, said there was now much more interaction with traditional owners, resulting in a better outcome for all parties.
"Our discussions are now much more respectful. We come from a position of more knowledge and respect, and understanding the connection to country very well," he told Energy News.
While the terms of the agreement are confidential, Buru said they were fairly standard for an Indigenous Land Use Agreement.
The landmark deal is one of the most significant of its kind in a remote region where many are still wary of fraccing and is designed to deliver significant financial and other benefits for the traditional owners and include structured processes for managing cultural, heritage and environmental matters.
The agreement also focuses on jobs and training, building on the employment of 30 young people from the region during the 2015 field season.
In return Buru has the support of the Yungngora for the future grant of the tenure required for the further development of the gas resources in the area.
"We have been delighted we have been able to contribute to the growth and wellbeing of the community as a whole and of many of the individual community members. The skill sets, willingness to learn, and adaptability have been outstanding and we look forward to continuing the engagement as our project progresses," Streitberg said.
Yungngora chairman Thomas Skinner said since the initial ground-breaking heritage agreement between Yungngora and the EP 391 JV petroleum exploration activities had proceeded on his homelands with encouraging results.
"Our community had an independent specialist review of the project that found that the project is low risk to our country and the environment," Skinner said.
"Our people have been working alongside Buru on the project to ensure there is no harm to country."
"Our negotiation team, including independent lawyers and a resource economist, has worked constructively with the Buru and Mitsubishi joint venture to ensure that the petroleum production license agreements would provide business, employment and training opportunities for our community members as an absolute priority.
"This is by far our highest priority for our community after protecting our country ‐ to escape welfare dependency and to join the real economy."
He said that over the past two years groundwater monitoring showed no contamination.
Noonkanbah contains the heart of the Laurel Formation basin-centred gas project, where there is a significant wet gas resource, and fraccing has suggested the potential for commercial flow rates.
A gross 2C contingent resource around the Valhalla-1, Valhalla North-1 and Asgard-1 wells has been estimated at 1.5 trillion cubic feet and 32 million barrels, and recent testing flowed at rates between 500,000 cubic feet per day and 2MMcfpd per zone.
But Noonkanbah has not always been so welcoming to exploration.
In 1979 and 1980 the 400,000sq.km station, located about 320km east of Broome, was a flashpoint between the traditional owners, petroleum explorers and the state government.
The fight culminated in then-WA Liberal premier Charles Court sending a 45-strong convoy of non-union drilling rigs and trucks from Perth to force through a picket line at Noonkanbah to support drilling by Amax, although the drilling was ultimately unsuccessful.
With a much more respectful and constructive relationship, Streitberg said Buru was working to develop its resources and share the benefits with the region's people.
At this stage no decision has been made on a 2016 work program.
"We are still analysing the vast amounts of data we have collected. It may be that we don't need to go back to the wells and continue testing, because that would not add much value," he said.
The company's 2015-16 program was extensive, and while the wet season is approaching he said a return to field work this year could not be ruled out.
Buru has uploaded a video of the community's engagement in the frac program and the other programs in the community to YouTube.
Edit:Video link corrected.