Australian onshore petroleum acreage and releases 2017
Jeff HaworthPetroleum Division, Department of Mines and Petroleum, 100 Pain Street, East Perth, Western Australia 6004. Email: jeffrey.haworth@dmp.wa.gov.au
The APPEA Journal 57(2) 345-352 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ16256
Accepted: 6 March 2017 Published: 29 May 2017
Abstract
This paper is a compilation of material from state and territory jurisdictions regarding onshore acreage and its availability for petroleum exploration in 2017. Australian state and territory governments continue to support investment in the petroleum industry through the provision of acreage for exploration, which is promoted nationally and internationally.
Updates are provided on recent upstream developments and government initiatives. Present and future policy directions that relate to onshore petroleum exploration are described, particularly for jurisdictions that are not making land available this year.
When the APPEA conference was last held in Perth, in 2014, the oil price and exploration outlook were very different from today. In 2016, the petroleum industry experienced the full impact of the downturn, with the price for oil reaching a low of under $27 USD/barrel (WTI) early in the year. Several companies departed the onshore, exploration was at a fifteen-year low and much acreage has been surrendered across Australia. However, 2017 is showing signs of improvement with oil prices in the mid-50s and some hope that the industry will turn the corner this year.
Low levels of exploration activity may have implications for future domestic gas supplies, and rising gas prices are of concern to local manufacturing industries and consumers throughout Australia. However, this may present marketing opportunities for successful explorers.
Keywords: coal seam gas, core, exploration, framework, gas, geoscience, oil, project, prospectivity, release, state, territory.
Jeff Haworth has worked in the mineral and petroleum industries for over 39 years. He has worked throughout Australia and the world including the North Sea, Arctic Ocean, offshore Western Australia, Victoria, Queensland, New Zealand and the USA. Jeff joined the then Department of Mines and Petroleum in 1991 as the Petroleum Data Manager. In 2006 he worked as the Manager – Petroleum Geology for the Geological Survey of Western Australia (GSWA) managing the research and basin studies into petroleum systems in Western Australia. In 2011 he became the Director of Technology, Petroleum and Geothermal within the Petroleum Division of the Department of Mines and Petroleum, which oversees the regulatory management of Western Australia’s upstream petroleum industry; he is currently the Executive Director, Petroleum. Jeff has a degree in mining geology from the WA School of Mines in Kalgoorlie. |
References
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DNRM (2016). Reporting Guideline – Petroleum and Gas: Statutory Reports. Compiled by Geological Survey of Queensland, Department of Natural Resources and Mines. Available at https://www.dnrm.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/371636/guideline-petroleum-gas.pdf [Verified 16 March 2017].
