Global trends in exploration, the Great Australian Bight and reaching out to new frontiers
Bryan RitchieVice President Exploration (Asia Pacific), BP
The APPEA Journal 55(3) - https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ14140
Published: 30 June 2015
Abstract
The challenges of discovering conventional oil and gas are increasing. Deepwater exploration will continue to be important, but the sector is maturing in established areas such as the Gulf of Mexico and West Africa. Conventional opportunities outside deepwater are more limited although there are a rich set of gas options and the Arctic is an important option for the long term. Unconventional plays have transformed North American energy supply, but sustainability at lower commodity prices is untested and challenges remain to replicate this success internationally.
After the opening of several new deepwater provinces in the last decade, like the Santos pre-salt and East Africa gas, the world is now looking for the next new province. BP is exploring for this and one of the interesting opportunities is the Great Australian Bight. BP was awarded four deepwater offshore blocks covering an area of 24,000 km2 in 2011 and a 12,000km2 3D seismic survey was completed in 2012. We hope that our exploration activities in the relatively unexplored waters of the Great Australian Bight will lead to the opening up of a new oil and gas province.
Technology will continue to be a key enabler in further unlocking resources. It underpins everything we do in the oil and gas business, right across the value chain. It enables us to discover, recover, process and market energy safely and efficiently to provide heat, light and power to communities around the world and drive economic growth.
Bryan Ritchie is from Montrose, in northeast Scotland. He graduated with an honours degree in geophysics from Edinburgh University, and has a PhD in geology from Manchester University. He joined BP in Aberdeen in 2001, and his work led to the discovery of a satellite to the Magnus field in the North Sea, which was named the ‘Ritchie Channel’. In 2002, Bryan moved to London to work for the Angola exploration team and then the Middle East production team. After that Bryan worked for the Sakhalin exploration team in London and Houston. In 2006, Bryan won the Petroleum Group’s Young Explorer of the Year. He was Algeria Exploration Manager in 2008 before moving to Houston in 2009 as the Exploration Manager for the Eastern Gulf of Mexico. In 2012 he became the Manager of the Exploration Efficiency Project and was accountable for the delivery of the exploration re-organisation. Following that Bryan was appointed Access Director for the Eastern Hemisphere and was responsible for the delivery of new venture opportunities. In January 2015 he was appointed Vice President Exploration for Asia Pacific. His personal interests include playing football and running. He lives in London with his wife and two young children. |
