The impact of exploration/appraisal activities on the recovery per well in North Perth Basin
Hongfeng Wu A * , Frank Glass A , Martin Storey A , Simon Molyneux A and William Walton AA
Hongfeng Wu, with a 27-year tenure in the Oil and Gas sector, serves as Director and Principal Reservoir Engineer at Molyneux Advisors. His expertise spans the entire lifecycle of oil and gas assets, including exploration, development, production, and abandonment. Wu’s prior roles include senior positions at Shell, BP, and CNOOC, showcasing his adeptness in project management and revitalising old fields. |
Frank Glass, a Geoscientist, boasts over three decades of experience, notably with Shell International. His career has covered exploration and development across the Browse and Carnarvon basins in Australia, enriched by international stints in the UK, Netherlands, US, and Malaysia. Glass specialises in seismic interpretation, advancing opportunities, and evaluating risk, resources, and value. |
Martin Storey, with 32 years in the international oilfield scene, has contributed as a Geoscientist, Petrophysicist, and well data specialist. After roles with Schlumberger and Shell, he has been an independent consultant in Perth, focussing on petrophysics, operations, and data management across various asset stages and environments, particularly in the Browse, Carnarvon, and Perth basins. |
Simon Molyneux, a Geoscientist with 22 years of experience, leads Molyneux Advisors, offering upstream oil and gas consultancy since 2018. His background includes managing offshore exploration for Santos in Australia and leading exploration and subsurface activities for Talisman Energy in Malaysia. |
William Walton, Principal of Reserves and Resources at Molyneux Advisors, leverages 37 years of oil and gas industry experience in asset maturation, development, and assessment. His career, highlighted by roles at Shell and BP, encompasses consultancy, project leadership, and geoscience, underlining his comprehensive approach to resource assurance and reporting. |
Abstract
The North Perth Basin (NPB) in Western Australia has experienced significant petroleum industry activity over the past 3 years (2021–2023), marked by the drilling of exploration and appraisal wells by various operators, along with notable merger and acquisition transactions. This flurry of drilling activity, coupled with the acquisition of new seismic data, have enhanced our understanding of the variability within the primary petroleum play levels – namely, the Permian ‘Kingia’ and High Cliff reservoirs. This understanding is crucial for assessing the future potential of domestic gas supply in Western Australia. This paper aims to elucidate how recent drilling efforts have narrowed the basin-wide portfolio of available gas prospects relative to the situation in early 2021, and how the landscape of undiscovered gas resources has evolved. This shift is attributed to both unsuccessful exploration attempts and revised estimates of well deliverability. Furthermore, an updated long-term production forecast for the NPB – considering existing gas pools and the newly assessed undiscovered resources – emphasises the urgent need to re-evaluate the narrative concerning gas availability for the domestic market. The Permian gas plays within the NPB have proven to be more intricate and unpredictable than previously believed. Nonetheless, their significance to the Western Australian economy is anticipated to be substantial for many years ahead.
Keywords: development, exploration and appraisal, gas, maturation, North Perth Basin, production, well recovery, Western Australia.
Hongfeng Wu, with a 27-year tenure in the Oil and Gas sector, serves as Director and Principal Reservoir Engineer at Molyneux Advisors. His expertise spans the entire lifecycle of oil and gas assets, including exploration, development, production, and abandonment. Wu’s prior roles include senior positions at Shell, BP, and CNOOC, showcasing his adeptness in project management and revitalising old fields. |
Frank Glass, a Geoscientist, boasts over three decades of experience, notably with Shell International. His career has covered exploration and development across the Browse and Carnarvon basins in Australia, enriched by international stints in the UK, Netherlands, US, and Malaysia. Glass specialises in seismic interpretation, advancing opportunities, and evaluating risk, resources, and value. |
Martin Storey, with 32 years in the international oilfield scene, has contributed as a Geoscientist, Petrophysicist, and well data specialist. After roles with Schlumberger and Shell, he has been an independent consultant in Perth, focussing on petrophysics, operations, and data management across various asset stages and environments, particularly in the Browse, Carnarvon, and Perth basins. |
Simon Molyneux, a Geoscientist with 22 years of experience, leads Molyneux Advisors, offering upstream oil and gas consultancy since 2018. His background includes managing offshore exploration for Santos in Australia and leading exploration and subsurface activities for Talisman Energy in Malaysia. |
William Walton, Principal of Reserves and Resources at Molyneux Advisors, leverages 37 years of oil and gas industry experience in asset maturation, development, and assessment. His career, highlighted by roles at Shell and BP, encompasses consultancy, project leadership, and geoscience, underlining his comprehensive approach to resource assurance and reporting. |
