Unlocking Australia’s oil future—exploration to exploitation*
Frances Cullen A and Paul Webber BA IHS Enterprise House, Cirencester Road, Tetbury, Glos, GL8 8RX. UK. Email: frances.cullen@ihs.com
B IHS Enterprise House, Cirencester Road, Tetbury, Glos, GL8 8RX. UK. Email: paul.webber@ihs.com
The APPEA Journal 50(2) 742-742 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ09106
Published: 2010
Abstract
Since 2000 Australia has ceased to be self-sufficient in terms of oil production and petroleum demand. As a net importer of crude oil it is expected that imports will continue to fulfil a growing percentage of the country’s liquid petroleum needs. Analysts are predicting a decline in oil production over the next decade with current producing fields and discovered resources failing to fill the gap created by rising consumption. In an increasingly gas focussed industry, oil is competing with both liquefied natural gas (LNG) and coal seam gas (CSG) projects for investment. As one of the top 20 oil consumers in the world, Australia’s growing demand for petroleum liquids continues to highlight the declining domestic supply.
This poster will identify and review the various components that will play a role in arresting the predicted decline curve. Exploration success in frontier basins is crucial along with the development of discovered resources in mature regions. In addition, future near-field and satellite exploration, with developments using existing infrastructure, will be instrumental in the stabilisation of oil production. This poster will also highlight planned high-impact exploration wells and examine the effect that potential discoveries could have on the country’s petroleum resources.
Australia’s oil future could see a reduced dependence on imported crude, resulting from frontier exploration success opening up new oil provinces. Future options for oil production also include a re-evaluation of oil prone regions using new technology to develop discovered reserves and target higher risk and overlooked plays.
Keywords: exploration, oil production, North Carnarvon, Gippsland, frontier basins, field development, government initiatives
Frances Cullen is a field researcher for the IHS Inc. Australasia team, based in Tetbury in the UK. Her role involves the acquisition, research and reporting of fields data for the region. Frances graduated from Cardiff University in 2007 with a BSc in Geology. Since graduating she has worked for the IHS Inc. Australasia team as both an exploration analyst and field researcher. Member: PESA and the South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX). |
Paul Webber is the senior regional manager of the Australasia team for IHS Inc. and is based in the UK. In this capacity, he manages a team of E&P professionals who are dedicated to the acquisition, compilation and reporting of information covering all aspects of the upstream industry in the Australasia region. The information collected is reported in daily, weekly, monthly and annual reports and maps that are available to subscribers of the IHS Global E&P Reporting Service and the company’s global E&P databases. The subscription base for the IHS data and insights includes more than 90 percent of the world€’s oil and gas companies. Paul received his bachelor’s degree in geology and a master’s in petroleum geoscience from the Royal School of Mines at Imperial College in London, England. Member: the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG), the South East Asia Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX) and the Petroleum Exploration Society of Great Britain (PESGB). |
