Exploration highlights for 2007
Andrew Krassay A , Jane Blevin A and Donna Cathro AFrog Tech Pty Ltd
The APPEA Journal 48(1) 395-412 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ07028
Published: 2008
Abstract
Record-high oil prices along with on-going development of infrastructure, increasing domestic demand and international LNG sales continued to drive significant investment in exploration in onshore and offshore Australia during 2007. These trends are reflected nationally by strong uptake of acreage and continued high levels of drilling activity and seismic acquisition. Overall, drilling and discovery trends were similar to 2006 which showed significant exploration activity focussed on proven hydrocarbon basins (Carnarvon, Browse, Perth and Cooper basins). Most petroleum discoveries made in 2007 were located within 10 to 15 km of existing fields.
In terms of number of exploration wells, the offshore Carnarvon continued to dominate with over 20 new field wildcats drilled. Discoveries include a major deep-water gas find for BHP-Billiton at Thebe-1 on the outer Exmouth Plateau, Apache’s gas finds at Brunello–1, Julimar–1 and Julimar East–1, oil for Santos at Fletcher–1 and gas at Lady Nora–1 for Woodside. The Browse Basin saw a significant increase in drilling activity with some success. Exploration in the offshore southwest margin received a major boost with a series of shallow-water discoveries for ROC Oil in the Perth Basin with gas at Frankland–1 395and Perseverance–1 and gas and oil at Dunsborough–1.
Onshore, the Cooper/Eromanga basins continued to experience the highest level of drilling activity and seismic acquisition. This activity resulted in numerous small to moderate oil discoveries for Santos, Beach Petroleum, Eagle Bay Resources, Stuart Petroleum and Victoria Petroleum. There were a few notable exceptions to near-field exploration in 2007 with several wildcats drilled in frontier regions including PetroHunter Energy and Sweetpea Petroleum’s Shanendoah–1 in the Georgina/Betaloo basins, Austin’s Gravestock–1 in the onshore Stansbury Basin and the onshore drilling campaign by ARC Energy in the Canning Basin. In Queensland, CSM exploration and discovery continued to experience strong positive growth underpinned by delivery to local markets.
Andrew Krassay is a senior geological consultant with FrOG Tech working on projects in Australia and overseas. Prior to joining Frog Tech in 2008 Andrew worked at Geoscience Australia and from 1994 to 1998 he was involved as a project geologist in onshore basin analysis and sediment-hosted mineralisation projects in QLD and the NT. In 1998 Andrew moved to the Petroleum & Marine Division as a project geologist and team leader of offshore basin analysis and petroleum prospectivity studies of basins along Australia's southern and southwestern margins including the Bight, Otway, Perth and Mentelle basins. Andrew has a BSc (Hons) 1989 in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Adelaide and a PhD (1995) in stratigraphy and sedimentology from the University of Adelaide. Member: PESA and SEPM. Past president: PESA ACT Branch. akrassay@frogtech.com.au |
Jane Blevin obtained a BS (1981) and MS (1985) in geology at Stephen F. Austin State University (USA), and worked in the exploration industry in Houston, Texas, before coming to Australia to undertake PhD studies at James Cook University (1989). In 2006, Jane joined FrOG Tech Pty Ltd as a Senior Geological Consultant and Business Manager of Australian Operations, and has been involved in projects in onshore Australia, PNG, North Africa and the Middle East. Previously, Jane worked as a Principal Research Scientist and Project Leader at Geoscience Australia from 1990 to 2005, where she was involved in basin analysis and petroleum prospectivity studies of basins around the Australia offshore margin, including the Bonaparte, Browse, Roebuck, Carnarvon, Perth, Bremer, Bight, Otway and Bass basins. Jane’s research interests are focused on the application of seismic and sequence stratigraphic concepts to understanding the evolution of basins systems and their resource potential. Jane is a past-president of the PESA ACT Branch and currently serves on the EABSIII Organising Committee as the Technical Papers Chair. jblevin@frogtech.com.au |
Donna Cathro is a geological consultant with FrOG Tech working on projects in Australia and overseas. She worked in the Petroleum and Marine Division of Geoscience Australia prior to joining FrOG Tech. Donna is a sequence stratigrapher with over 10 years experience at a variety of scales. She has worked on projects ranging from thin-section analysis on individual wells to regional seismic stratigraphic basin analysis as well as marine seismic data acquisition and processing. Donna has a BSc (Hons) in Geology/Geophysics from the University of Adelaide, National Centre for Petroleum Geology and Geophysics and a PhD from The University of Texas at Austin, Institute for Geophysics. Member: PESA, AAPG and AGU. dcathro@frogtech.com.au |
