EXPLORATION AND ITS RESPONSE TO DIVERGENT INFLUENCES

Abstract

Petroleum exploration in Australia has evolved through three distinct phases and is now entering a fourth. It began with the wild, speculative flurries that culminated in drilling on the Coorong, South Australia in 1892, it was revived by the accidental discovery of gas near Roma at the turn of the century leading to the oil boom from 1926 to 1933, and it reached its peak in 1962-72 in the third phase, after which exploration activity has gone into decline. Examination of the economic, political and social background to the industry reveals that, on the national scene, political events rather than economic and social trends have had greater impact on the fluctuating course of its development. International influences also appear, in many instances, to be of greater significance than domestic factors. Much time and effort have been devoted by industry, government and academics to the analysis of economic, political and social influences on Australia's petroleum exploration but it is quite obvious that the basic determinant Is still the oft-forgotten geologic-technological factor. The condition of the domestic industry depends primarily on the potential of Australia's sedimentary basins and the quality of the technology used to explore them. In the long term, all other influences are temporary in their impact and subordinate in their ultimate effect.