Is there any room for gravity in petroleum exploration? Let's open the door again!

Abstract

The seismic method has been thriving in the oil and gas industry for decades. Technological progress in acquisition, processing and interpretation have made it practically the only geophysical method used for petroleum exploration. Unfortunately, gravity, as a pioneering geophysical method appears to have been completely forgotten in Australia’s oil and gas industry. Most of the gravity data in Australia were collected in the 1960s and 1970s. Only government agencies and a few exploration companies have conducted gravity surveys in petroleum basins since that time. Australia’s mostly flat terrain, economical aspects of the gravity method such as low cost and the ability to cover vast underexplored onshore basins in the country, all seem to be positive factors indicating that this method should be commonly used as a part of petroleum exploration. Given the petroleum industry is currently trying hard to make exploration more economically effective, this may be an opportunity to revive the gravity method in petroleum exploration.