2013 PESA production and development review
Geoff O'Brien A , Monica Campi A and Graeme Bethune BA NOPTA
B EnergyQuest
The APPEA Journal 54(1) 451-466 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ13044
Published: 2014
Abstract
The boom in Australian oil and gas development continued in 2013, with record overall investment of $60 billion. This investment resulted from spending on the seven LNG projects under development, together with that on numerous other oil and gas developments. These projects are expected to collectively contribute up to 665 million barrels of oil equivalent (MMboe) to Australia’s oil and gas production, which totaled 513.8 MMboe in 2013. LNG, presently Australia’s seventh largest export, is likely to soon rival the nation’s largest export, iron ore.
By the end of 2013, three of the LNG projects under construction—Gorgon, Queensland Curtis LNG (QCLNG) and Gladstone LNG (GLNG)—were more than 70% complete; first LNG will be before the end of 2014 for QCLNG and in 2015 for Gorgon, GLNG and Australia Pacific LNG (APLNG). The other three LNG projects—Wheatstone, Prelude and Ichthys—are close behind.
These new LNG projects follow Pluto, Australia’s third LNG project, which commenced production in 2012. A full year of production from Pluto drove increased gas production in 2013. Woodside also completed the North Rankin redevelopment and continued development of the Greater Western Flank, both of which will extend the life of the North West Shelf (NWS) project.
A number of other projects also commenced production.
In the Carnarvon Basin, oil production began at Santos’s Fletcher-Finucane Field, and at BHP Billiton’s Macedon project, domestic gas production started. In the Timor Sea, PTTEP’s Montara Field began production of oil.
In Victoria, the ExxonMobil Kipper-Turrum-Tuna project came online, with the production of gas from Tuna and oil from Turrum. Production of gas from Origin Energy’s Geographe Field (as part of the Otway Gas Project) commenced in mid-2013.
Onshore oil production grew in 2013, with the Cooper-Eromanga Basin now producing more oil than any other onshore Australian basin. A major effort is underway to increase production from the western flank oil trend and to develop both the conventional and unconventional gas fields in the Cooper Basin.
Spending on the development of new projects probably peaked in 2013 and there is growing concern about a dearth of future projects, with expansion of existing LNG projects and development of new projects being pushed back due to a combination of increased costs and growing international competition. There are also ongoing industry concerns about impediments to onshore gas exploration and development generally.
Dr Geoff O’Brien has a first-class honours degree and a PhD in earth sciences. He has worked in the petroleum exploration sector for more than 20 years. Geoff has worked at BHP Billiton, Western Mining Petroleum, AGSO/Geoscience Australia, the University of Adelaide, and GeoScience Victoria, and has consulted to a wide number of companies in Australia and overseas. He is presently the Chief Geoscientist for the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA). Geoff’s key technical specialities include the application of integrated petroleum systems approaches to basin evaluation, with an emphasis on basin and migration modelling (1D, 2D and 3D), charge history analysis, remote sensing, fault and top seal analysis, and seismic interpretation of hydrocarbon leakage and seepage. Geoff has won numerous industry awards and was the 1992 PESA Australia Lecturer. He has also published more than 170 papers and abstracts. Geoffrey.Obrien@nopta.gov.au |
Dr Monica Campi has an honours degree in science from Monash University, and a PhD in marine palaeoecology and biostratigraphy from Deakin University. She was a member of the academic staff at Deakin University before joining GeoScience Victoria within the Victorian State Government as a petroleum geoscientist/sedimentologist, contributing to the Victorian Geological Carbon Storage (VicGCS) Initiative. Monica also managed the Victorian petroleum acreage release. She is now a Senior Geoscientist within NOPTA. Member: PESA Victoria/Tasmania Branch, committee member; and Geological Society of Australia. Monica.Campi@nopta.gov.au |
Dr Graeme Bethune is CEO of EnergyQuest, which produces timely, comprehensive and reliable data on Australian oil and gas production, reserves, prices and development projects. Graeme is also a director of the Australian Gas Industry Trust, a member of the National Organising Committee for the LNG 18 Conference, and represents Australia on study groups of the International Gas Union. An economist by training, Graeme has 20 years’ experience in the oil and gas industry. gbethune@energyquest.com.au |
