Oil and Gas Developments in Australia in 1988

Abstract

The petroleum industry spent Australia's bicentennial year in a subdued mood, reflecting the uncertainty of price and sources of funding, while concentrating on exploring and appraising proven producing areas along Australia's North West Shelf and the Eromanga-Cooper basins and maintaining an interest in the Surat and Otway basins. Overall, industry preferred to spend funds on appraisal and development drilling. There were notable successes in the Vulcan subbasin, the offshore portion of the Carnarvon basin, and the Eromanga-Cooper basins, encouraging developments in the Surat basin, and modest success in the onshore portion of the Otway basin. Low levels of exploration drilling in the Amadeus, Bonaparte, Georgina, Pedirka, Carpentaria, Galilee, Gippsland, Canning, and Pe th basins yielded no new discoveries, although some noncommercial finds were recorded. Geophysical prospecting declined onshore but increased offshore from the low levels recorded since 1985. Less than three-quarters of liquids production (265,000 b/d) came from the Gippsland basin in 1988, and total production for Australia was 96% of that in 1987. Total natural gas production (629 bcf) was also marginally lower. The largest increases in oil production came from the North West Shelf, where North Herald and South Pepper fields came on production at the beginning of 1988 and where production rates were also increased substantially from Harriet and Jabiru fields. Average daily Australian crude oil and condensate production was 519,900 bbl, only slightly above the 1986 figure and down from the 1987 figure of 544,000 b/d.