2013 PESA industry review: exploration
Rhodri Johns A and Patrick Despland ASantos Ltd
The APPEA Journal 54(1) 431-450 https://doi.org/10.1071/AJ13043
Published: 2014
Abstract
Exploration activity in Australia in 2013 occurred across a broad spectrum of conventional and unconventional plays.
Competition for acreage was buoyant with large tracts of key onshore basins either licensed or under application. Offshore, there were new awards on the western Australian margin and in the Bight Basin off SA.
Offshore 3D seismic acquisition was reduced from anomalously high levels in 2012. Onshore 2D seismic acquisition was at historic highs and onshore 3D was the most ever recorded.
Overall drilling levels were maintained despite a decline offshore. Of 13 offshore wells drilled, six were discoveries. Sixty-nine exploration wells (excluding CSG wells) were drilled onshore. Fifty addressed conventional, and 19 were unconventional shale or basin-centered gas targets. Sixty of the 69 wells were drilled in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin where conventional oil and gas exploration yielded 11 oil and six gas discoveries.
Drilling and fraccing campaigns in the Nappamerri Trough unconventional gas plays provided early encouraging results.
213 exploration and appraisal CSG wells were drilled in the CSG basins of Queensland and NSW. In Queensland a record total of 1,317 CSG wells were drilled in fiscal year 2012/2013.
Shale gas exploration activity was increasingly focused on the Palaeozoic and Proterozoic Basins of Western, Central and Northern Australia with major oil and gas companies involved in joint ventures preparing for drilling in 2014. The results of these programmes will have an important bearing on the future direction of exploration in these plays.
Rhodri Johns is Manager of Opportunity Capture at Santos. He is a geologist, a graduate of Manchester University, and has a PhD from Cambridge University. He started his career with Shell in the Netherlands, and worked for Sun Oil in London for several years before moving to Adelaide to work for Santos. As Manager of Opportunity Capture, Rhodri leads a group of exploration geoscientists who are responsible for basin and play analysis and identifying new opportunities. rhodri.johns@santos.com |
Patrick Despland obtained a MSc in geology from the Université de Lausanne, Switzerland, in 2004. Upon completion of his academic studies, and a short stint with the Research Centre on Alpine Environments as a field geologist, Patrick migrated to Australia where he joined Iluka Resources in the mineral sands industry. In 2006, Patrick moved across to Santos in Adelaide where he presently works as a Senior Geologist in the Opportunity Capture team. His role involves regional-scale technical studies and the review of new ventures opportunities across the Asia-Pacific region. patrick.despland@santos.com |
