OIL& GAS Resources of Australia 2001 Geoscience Australia Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2001 Geoscience Australia Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2001 i DEPARTMENT OF INDUSTRY, TOURISM & RESOURCES Minister for Industry, Tourism & Resources the Hon. Ian MacFarlane MP Secretary Mark Paterson Deputy Secretary John Ryan GEOSCIENCE AUSTRALIA Chief Executive Officer: Neil Williams ISSN 1038118X © Commonwealth of Australia 2002 This work is copyright. Apart from any fair dealings for the purposes of study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission. Copyright is the responsibility of the Executive Director, Geoscience Australia. Inquiries should be directed to the Chief Executive Officer, Geoscience Australia, GPO Box 378, Canberra City, ACT 2601. Summary: E. Petrie, D. Wright; Part 1: S. Cadman, E. Petrie and C. Quinn Part 2: S. Cadman and S. le Poidevin; Part 3: A. Barrett and A. Hinde Part 4: E. Petrie and V. Vuckovic; Part 5: S. Miyazaki Part 6: S. le Poidevin; Part 7: A. Barrett, A. Hinde and V. Vuckovic Part 8: D. Xu; Part 9: K. Porritt; Part 10: P. Cronin Appendices A, B, C, D, E, F, G, J, K: C. Quinn, N. Reilly and E. Petrie Appendices H, I, L, M: S. le Poidevin and V. Vuckovic Petroleum Exploration and Development Titles Map: E. Petrie and C. Quinn Preferred way to cite this publication: Petrie, E. and others, Geoscience Australia (2002) Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2001. Geoscience Australia, Canberra. This volume is the successor to Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2000. Geoscience Australia has tried to make the information in this product as accurate as possible. However, it does not guarantee that the information is totally accurate or complete. Therefore, you should not rely solely on this information when making a commercial decision. Cover: Cover image shows the total resolvable sediment thickness grid for the Bight Basin in seconds (two-way time), draped over the 1 km Bathymetry Grid of Australia and clipped at the coastline. The onshore image is a LANDSAT TM image draped over the 9 s digital elevation model of Australia. The thickness grid is based on the seismic identification of top basement. In areas where the base of the basin- fill could not be seismically imaged, the deepest resolvable reflections were used to estimate total thickness. Cover design by Leanne McMahon, Geoscience Australia Geological diagrams by Geoscience Australia Information Management Branch Structurally edited and desktop published by Science Text Processors Canberra Printed by Union Offset Printers ii Geoscience Australia Contents Glossary vii Abbreviations ix Conversion factors ix Summary 1 1: Exploration 2001 5 1.1 Exploration drilling and seismic surveys 5 1.2 Rig activity 11 1.3 Petroleum permits, leases and licences 12 1.4 Success rates 12 1.5 Release of offshore exploration areas 13 1.6 Recent trends in deepwater exploration 18 2: Identified resources 23 2.1 Basin geology and petroleum potential 23 2.2 Identified resources 26 3: Undiscovered resources 29 3.1 Medium term potential of the Bonaparte Basin 29 3.2 Discussion 30 3.3 Petroleum systems 31 3.4 Ultimate potential of the Bonaparte Basin 31 4: Development 33 4.1 Major new developments 33 4.2 Overview of present and past offshore developments 36 4.3 Pipelines 53 5: Coalbed methane resources, developments and production 59 5.1 Coalbed methane and coalmine methane 59 5.2 Coalbed methane resources 60 5.3 Coalbed methane exploration 61 5.4 Coalbed methane production and development 63 Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2001 iii 6: Current production 67 6.1 Crude oil and condensate production in 2000 67 6.2 Gas production in 2000 67 7: Crude oil and condensate forecasts 69 7.1 Crude oil and condensate forecast for 2002–2015 69 7.2 Crude oil forecast for 2002–2015 70 7.3 Condensate forecast for 2002–2015 72 8: Sufficiency of crude oil and condensate resources 73 8.1 Introduction 73 8.2 Ratio of economic demonstrated resources to annual production 73 8.3 Trends in crude oil production 75 8.4 Estimated self-sufficiency 76 9: Shale oil development 77 9.1 Introduction 77 9.2 Resources 77 9.3 Production 77 9.4 World resources and production 77 9.5 Industry developments 78 10: Data availability 81 10.1 Digital seismic exploration and well log data 81 10.2 Metadata databases 82 10.3 Contacts 82 Appendices 85 Appendix A Wells drilled for exploration, development and production by State, 2001 87 Appendix B Seismic survey activity by State, 2001 105 Appendix C Discoveries of petroleum in 2001 111 Appendix D Summary of wells drilled 117 Appendix E Petroleum expenditure and activity 121 Appendix F Wells and metres drilled, 1982–2001 127 Appendix G Offshore and onshore drilling activity by State, 1991–2001 129 Appendix H Australia’s offshore production facilities 133 Appendix I Crude oil and gas production by basin, pre-1991 and 1991–2000 137 Appendix J Australian petroleum pipelines, 2001 141 Appendix K Key to petroleum exploration and development titles, 2001 157 Appendix L Significant Australian offshore oil and gas discoveries up to the end of 2001 217 Appendix M Australian producing onshore oil and gas discoveries up to the end of 2000 225 iv Geoscience Australia Figures Figure 1.1 Wells and metres drilled offshore 1991–2001 6 Figure 1.2 Location of discoveries in 2001 9 Figure 1.3 Wells and metres drilled onshore 1991–2001 10 Figure 1.4 Onshore drilling rig activity 1995–2001 11 Figure 1.5 Offshore drilling rig activity 1995–2001 12 Figure 1.6 Deepwater (>400m) wells drilled offshore Australia 1991 to 2001 20 Figure 1.7 Location of deepwater drilling offshore Australia 1991 to 2001 20 Figure 2.1 Australia’s sedimentary basins 24 Figure 2.2 Australia’s initial and remaining commercial plus non-commercial reserves of oil, condensate and gas 26 Figure 3.1 Undiscovered oil resources in the Bonaparte Basin 29 Figure 3.2 Undiscovered gas resources in the Bonaparte Basin 30 Figure 4.1 Location of oil and gas production and pipelines 37 Figure 7.1 Australia’s annual production of crude oil and condensate, 1975–2001, and forecast annual production at 90%, 50% and 10% cumulative probability, 2002–2015 69 Figure 7.2 Australia’s annual production of crude oil, 1975–2001, and forecast annual production at 90%, 50% and 10% cumulative probability from 2002 to 2015 71 Figure 7.3 Australia’s annual production of condensate, 1975–2001 and forecast annual production at 90%, 50% and 10% cumulative probability, 2002–2015 72 Figure 8.1 Annual R/P ratios for crude oil, condensate, LPG and sales gas 75 Figure E 1 Total petroleum expenditure by private enterprise, 1979–2000 126 Figure E 2 Total petroleum expenditure by industry in 2000 126 Tables Table 1.1 Seismic survey activity 2000–2001 6 Table 1.2 New-field wildcat success rates 1989–2001 13 Table 1.3 Offshore exploration permits awarded from the 2000 Acreage Release Program 15 Table 1.4 Offshore exploration permits awarded from the first closing of the 2001 Acreage Release Program 16 Table 1.5 Offshore acreage re-release program 1999 to 2001 17 Table 1.6 Deepwater exploration permits awarded 1996 to 2000 19 Table 1.7 Deepwater (>400 m) exploration wells drilled offshore Australia, 1991 to 2001 21 Table 2.1 Petroleum reserves estimates by basin at 1 January 2001 27 Table 2.2 McKelvey Classification estimates by basin as at 1 January 2001 28 Table 3.1 Assessment of undiscovered hydrocarbon resources in the Bonaparte Basin 29 Table 5.1 Coalbed methane drilling in 2000 and 2001 62 Table 7.1 Forecast for 2002–2015 of crude oil and condensate production from Australia’s identified accumulations, and crude oil production from undiscovered accumulations, in the Bonaparte, Carnarvon, Eromanga, Cooper, Gippsland, Browse, Bass, offshore Otway and offshore Perth Basins, as at July 2002 70 Table 7.2 Forecast for 2002–2015 of crude oil production from Australia’s identified accumulations, and from undiscovered accumulations, in the Bonaparte, Carnarvon, Eromanga, Cooper, Gippsland, Browse, Bass, offshore Otway and offshore Perth Basins, as at July 2002 71 Oil and Gas Resources of Australia 2001 v Table 7.3 Forecast for 2002–2015 of condensate production from Australia’s identified accumulations, as at July 2002 72 Table 8.1 Australia’s economic demonstrated resources and production of crude oil, condensate, naturally-occurring LPG and natural gas 1982 to 2000 74 Table 8.2 Australia’s production and demand for crude oil and condensate 75 Table 9.1 Australian shale oil resources as at December 2001 79 Map Back pocket Petroleum exploration and development titles map as at May 2002 vi Geoscience Australia Glossary AGSO Australian Geological Survey Organisation (now Geoscience Australia) °API Degrees American Petroleum Institute—a measure of oil density. API gravity = 141.5 – 1315 specific gravity at 60°F Basin A geological depression filled with sediments. Several basins of different ages overlying each other are referred to as stacked basins (e.g. Cooper/Eromanga Basins). Completion The process by which a finished well is either sealed off or prepared for production. Condensate A liquid mixture of pentane and heavier hydrocarbons that is recoverable from a gas well through a separation system. Crude oil A mixture of hydrocarbons that existed in the liquid phase in natural under ground reservoirs and remains liquid at atmospheric pressure after passing through surface separating facilities. Demonstrated resources The amount of petroleum that can be recovered from the part of identified resources whose existence is established and whose quantity is considered probable, based on well data and geological projection.