Australian states and Northern Territory acreage update
Jeffrey Haworth A and Richard Bruce AWA Department of Mines and Petroleum
The APPEA Journal 54(1) 421-430 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ13042
Published: 2014
Abstract
It is encouraging to note that a number of international oil companies (IOCs) have taken an interest in Australian onshore exploration, including the following:
Bowen-Surat Basin—BG, ConocoPhillips, CNOOC, PetroChina, Sinopec, KOGAS, Mitsui, Petronas, Shell, and Total.
Canning Basin—Mitsubishi, ConocoPhillips, Hess, PetroChina, and Apache.
Cooper-Eromanga Basin—BG, and Chevron.
Galilee Basin—CNOOC.
Georgina Basin—Statoil, and Total.
There is now greater interest in Australian onshore exploration, including in a number of sedimentary basins that have previously largely been overlooked. New views on geology and the development of a commercial shale and tight gas sector in the US have prompted a reassessment of onshore petroleum potential, especially in SA, the NT and WA.
Access to onshore acreage in Australia for petroleum exploration is, in most jurisdictions, by means of a formal release process with a work program bidding system. Acreage that is being made available for exploration will generally be accompanied by information regarding its geological setting and petroleum prospectivity. Previous exploration activity may be summarised (including information in relation to the amount of pre-existing data available to applicants for acreage), and relevant maps and figures may be included. The following is a compilation of material supplied by the states and NT in relation to onshore acreage being made available for petroleum exploration.
Jeff Haworth has worked in both the mineral and petroleum industries for more than 35 years. He has worked throughout Australia and the world including in the North Sea, Arctic Ocean, offshore WA, Victoria, Queensland, New Zealand and the US. Jeff joined the then Department of Mines and Petroleum (DMP) 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 WA. In 2011 he became the Director of Technology, Petroleum and Geothermal within the Petroleum Division of the department, which oversees the regulatory management of WA’s upstream petroleum industry. He was appointed Executive Director, Petroleum in November 2013. Jeff has a degree in mining geology from the WA School of Mines in Kalgoorlie. jeff.haworth@dmp.wa.gov.au |
Richard Bruce has worked as an exploration geologist for the Petroleum Division of WA’s DMP for the past 17 years. He is responsible for acreage release coordination and promotion, particularly for onshore areas. Prior to this, Richard’s roles included preparation of publications, mining geology, petroleum operations and wellsite geology (in the North Sea, Pakistan, Southeast Asia and Australia), as well as in new venture evaluation. He has a Bachelor of Science degree in geology from the University of Western Australia and a Graduate Diploma in Applied Physics (Advanced Petroleum Geophysics) from WAIT (Curtin University of Technology). Richard has authored or co-authored—and presented—papers on rapid petroleum formation, acreage releases and opportunities in WA, as well as on oil and gas fields in WA. Member: PESA, the Formation Evaluation Society of Australia (FESAus), and the Southeast Asian Petroleum Exploration Society (SEAPEX). richard.bruce@dmp.wa.gov.au |
