Australian petroleum exploration and development activity report

1 July to 30 September 2003

To view the full report, including tables and figures you can download the Petroleum Industry Statistics Report for 3^rd Quarter 2003 in PDF format. [PDF 430KB]

Highlights

• A total of six discoveries were reported: Offshore at Ravensworth (oil and gas) and at Ginger (gas) both in the Carnarvon Basin. Onshore at Overston (gas) in the Bowen Basin and at Christies (oil), Carrickalinga (gas) and Worrior (oil), all in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin of South Australia.
• Overall level of exploration drilling in the first nine months of 2003 (66 wells) remains at historically low levels over the last two decades.
  Offshore drilling activity (11 wells) in the September quarter is three wells less than the preceding June quarter and the lowest since the September quarter in 2002.
  Onshore drilling activity for the September quarter (7 wells drilled) remains at low levels and in the first nine months of 2003 there were a total of 19 wells drilled - the lowest level of drilling for nearly three decades.
• 2D onshore seismic survey activity improved over the previous quarter as did 3D onshore activity from no activity in the June quarter. Offshore there was no 2D or 3D seismic survey activity reported which is the first lack of activity in the offshore area for any quarter for a number of decades.
• Offshore development completions occurred at Bayu Undan in the Bonaparte Basin, Flounder in the Gippsland Basin, Campbell, East Spar in the Carnarvon Basin. Taunton No.3 and Gipsy No.3 development wells failed to be completed and were abandoned.
• Onshore development completions were carried out at Alwyn, Big Lake, Cowralli, Dullingari, Dullingari North, Goyder, Jena, Merrimelia, Moomba, Pelican and Ulandi all in the Cooper and Cooper/Eromanga Basins and at Hovea and Jingemia in the Perth Basin.

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Drilling activity

Exploration drilling for the September quarter 2003 (18 wells) is only one less than drilled during the same period in 2002 (19) wells and is one more than the 17 wells drilled in the previous quarter this year.

Offshore exploration wells drilled during the September quarter 2003 (11) is two more than the nine of the September quarter 2002 and three less than in the previous quarter. Drilling was carried out in the Browse (1) and Carnarvon (10) Basins.
Two wells were drilling ahead at the end of September in the Carnarvon Basin.

Onshore exploration wells drilled during the September quarter 2003 (7) is four more than the three wells of the previous quarter and three less than the ten wells of the September quarter last year. Six of these wells were drilled in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin, with one well in the Carnarvon Basin.
One well was drilling ahead at the end of the quarter in Cooper/Eromanga Basin, one in the Surat Basin and one well was suspended in the Canning Basin.

Development drilling activity for the third quarter of 2003 (28) is seven greater than the previous quarter (21) and is more than double of the same period last year (13).

Offshore, the number of development wells drilled during the September quarter of 2003 (6) is the same as the previous quarter and one more than in the September quarter of 2002 (7). Wells were completed in the Carnarvon and Gippsland Basins (2 each). Two wells were abandoned in the Carnarvon Basin and ten wells were drilling ahead in the Bonaparte Basin.

Onshore, development wells drilled in the third quarter (22) is seven more than the fifteen wells of the previous quarter. This is more than double the nine wells of the March quarter and nearly four times the figure drilled in the corresponding period of 2002 (6). Twenty of these were in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin (17 completions and 3 abandonments) and two were in the Perth Basin (1 completed and 1 abandoned). Four wells were drilling ahead at the end of September in the Cooper/Eromanga Basin.

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Seismic survey activity

Offshore , No 2D seismic surveys were recorded during the September quarter of 2003. In comparison the total for the previous quarter was 4737 km and 6000 km was carried out during the same period in 2002.
No 3D seismic surveys were completed during this period, however 4737 km² was carried out in the previous quarter and only 563 km² for the same period in 2002

Onshore, 527 line kilometres were acquired in 2D seismic surveys during the September quarter of 2003. This is a small increase on the 364 km of the previous quarter and lower than the 936 km of the September quarter of 2002. A single 3D seismic survey of 92 square km was carried out onshore which follows the trend over the last few quarters.

Rig Activity

The total number of active rigs during the September 2003 quarter was thirty-nine, which is a decrease on the number active in the September 2002 quarter (31). Rig activity during the quarter ranged from 11 and 12, to 16 rigs active at the end of the quarter.

Offshore, the number of active rigs remained steady at 5, 5 and 6 respectively each month, with inactive rigs at 4, 3 and 1 during the quarter.
Development drilling occurred in the Carnarvon, Bonaparte and Gippsland Basins. Exploration drilling was carried out in the Carnarvon and Browse Basins. The active rigs drilling ahead at the end of the quarter were in the Bonaparte, Browse, Carnarvon and Gippsland Basins.

Onshore, the number of active rigs varied between 6 and 8, which is lower than in the same period last year (6-8). The total number of inactive rigs remained high, ranging from 11 to 15 compared with the same quarter last year of 14 to 19. During the third quarter of 2003, development drilling occurred in the Cooper/Eromanga, Bowen/Surat and Surat Basins. Exploration drilling was carried out in the Canning, Cooper, Cooper/Eromanga and Surat Basins. Development drilling was recorded in Cooper, Cooper/Eromanga and Perth Basins. Drilling ahead in the Cooper, Cooper/Eromanga and Surat Basins continued after the end of the quarter.

This publication includes the following: preliminary statistics for wells and metres drilled, seismic survey line & square kilometres recorded and rig activity, to the end of September 2003. The data from which these statistics are derived have been compiled by Geoscience Australia from various sources, including the petroleum exploration industry and State and Northern Territory departments of mines.