Australian Property News

Coober Pedy strikes black gold

Posted on Thursday, January 24 2013 at 1:03 PM

The tiny South Australian mining town of Coober Pedy could be home to the country’s largest oil resource.

It’s well known for its homes, which are mostly in the form of ‘dugouts’ and built under rock due to the extreme temperatures, but it might soon be on the map for much more significant reasons if Linc Energy has its way.

The mining company has released reports stating the Archaringa Basin surrounding Cooper Pedy could have between 3.5 billion to 233 billion barrels of untapped oil.

Adelaide Now reports Australia could potentially turn from an oil importer to oil exporter while fueling the entire country.

While it’s obviously early days, Lin Andrews Coober Pedy real estate agent Di Enders says her phone has been ringing off the hook since the news broke this morning.

“I’ve had so many calls, you wouldn’t believe it,” she says. “My brain is about to explode.”
Enders says the main reasons why people buy in Coober Pedy are tight vacancy rates and high rental yields, but the area does have limited infrastructure.

Rents are going up by about $10 per week at the moment.

“People renting don’t want to surrender their houses, they know they won’t get another one,” she says.

There are currently no listings on realestate.com.au. Enders adds the vacancy is tight at the moment but she doesn’t want Coober Pedy to turn into “another Roxby Downs” where investors speculated about the expansion of Olympic Dam, which was then delayed.

SA TAFE property investment course coordinator Peter Koulizos says the news is “very exciting” and potentially much bigger than the Olympic Dam project.

But he warns the findings are still years away from eventuating into something much bigger.

“Most mining projects have two phases. One is to get government approval, the second one is to get finance.

“South Australians are a little bit cautious now, we’re certainly not popping bottles of champagne at the moment.”

Linc Energy managing director and chief executive officer Peter Bond agrees it’s still early days but believes the findings are positive.

“Linc Energy is committed to delivering the best outcome for the development of this acreage and maximising value to shareholders,” he says.

“The best way for Linc Energy to do that is to bring in an industry expert with the know-how and funding to drive this asset forward to production as promptly and as efficiently as possible.”