2008 Production and development highlights

Abstract

Australian petroleum production reached record levels during 2008 due mainly to continued growth in gas production, particularly from coal seam gas in Queensland. Coal seam gas (CSG) has provided a major fillip to gas production in the east of the country, with four LNG projects slated for Curtin Island off Gladstone, and the Surat/Bowen Basin supplanting the Cooper Basin in gas production for the first time. Three new projects were brought on stream in the Carnarvon Basin, offsetting the projected natural decline of oil production in that basin. The pipeline of committed and planned projects continues to rise, with a number of major projects in the Carnarvon Basin moving closer to fruition and the Browse Basin likely to join the Carnarvon as a major LNG producer in the medium term. The impact of the global financial crisis, with a large number of countries which take Australia’s energy production in recession, is still being assessed. It appears that there may be a softening in costs, although the trends were not yet clear at year’s end.