AUSSIE INDUSTRY MAPS UPSTREAM PLANS FOR 1995

How Australian Exploration Has Varied (92929 bytes)

Australia's onshore Cooper/Eromanga basins and offshore Carnarvon basin are the likely main focus of the country's exploration effort in 1995.

That's apparent in the latest annual survey of the Australian Petroleum Exploration Association (APEA).

Meantime, West Australian Petroleum Pty Ltd. (Wapet) has confirmed its 1 Chrysaor gas discovery near North Gorgon gas fields on Australia's Northwest Shelf with a huge test flow. That boosts Australia's hopes for longer term exports of liquefied natural gas.

in other Australian exploration news, Ampolex Ltd. has boosted its presence in Western Australia's Carnarvon basin with two new exploration permits and a farmout acquired from Woodside Petroleum Pty. Ltd. and Mount Isa Mines Ltd. (MIM).

Ampolex will have a 30% interest in WA-256-P and WA-257-P permits about 40 km north of Harriet oil field and 50 km west of Wandoo oil field. The areas have been explored but not in much detail and not since a spate of recent discoveries in the surrounding region. Ampolex will have 28% interest after farmout on WA-208-P, operated by MIM. Wanaea and Cossack oil fields are within 10 km of the permit's western boundary.

Elsewhere, a group led by Santos Ltd. found gas with its 1 East Baryulah wildcat in Southwest Queensland. The well flowed 6.2 MMcfd from Permian Patchawarra in the Cooper basin about 40 km south-southeast of Queensland Gas Centre at Ballera.

APEA SURVEY

Outlook For Australian Companies' 1995 Exploration and Development (79221 bytes)

Australian Companies' 1995 Foreign E&D Spending (23467 bytes)

APEA's survey found that companies plan to spud 25 or 26 wildcats in the Cooper/Eromanga basins along with 16 appraisal wells in the region this year. In addition, 22-38 wildcats are planned for the offshore Carnarvon basin-home of the Northwest Shelf gas megaproject-with another 2-9 appraisals slated.

The two regions are expected to attract about half of Australia's projected outlays for onshore and offshore E&D, respectively, by Australian companies in 1995.

APEA estimates 1995 E&D spending in the Cooper/Eromanga basins at $68-69 million (Australian) and in the offshore Carnarvon basin at $168-290 million. It forecasts total Australian E&D spending at $120-144 million onshore and $341-543 million offshore.

In addition, Australian companies are expected to spend $152 million on foreign exploration and another $69 million on foreign development. That works out to about 30% of Australian oil and gas company budgets in 1995.

APEA's survey shows the number of onshore wildcats planned for Australia is 45, down from 59 in 1994. Total offshore wildcats are projected at about 35 in 1995, compared with 37 in 1994.

Cooper/Eromanga will account for the highest level of development drilling, with 17 wells expected. About 13 or 14 onshore development wells are expected in the Camarvon basin, mostly on Barrow Island.

Offshore, Carnarvon basin development is forecast at a similarly high level, about 10-14 wells. However, the most active offshore development area will be the Gippsland basin, where the Esso Australia Ltd.-BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. combine continues a major infill drilling campaign to boost recovery from Bass Strait oil fields.

Surprisingly, the Timor Gap region between Australia and Indonesia, which has received much attention recently because of a string of significant oil and gas finds (OGJ, Jan. 2, p. 21), is expected to attract only one or two wildcats and a single development well in 1995.

Seismic survey activity also is forecast to fall from levels seen in recent years because the volume of data collected must be processed and interpreted. APEA forecasts that 16,557-25,133 line km of 2D seismic data will be acquired offshore this year and 6,462-7,622 line km onshore. As for 3D, offshore dominates with a forecast of 19,800-41,570 line km vs. only 550 line km onshore.

CHRYSAOR CONFIRMATION

Wapet 1 Chrysaor flowed 63.5 MMcfd of gas with 2,673 psi tubing pressure. Another test was scheduled for mid-January in a separate indicated gas pay in a shallower zone. Earlier, wire line sampling confirmed presence of two gas pays at 3,277-81 m and 3,453 1/2-83 1/2 m (OGJ, Jan. 16, p. 81).

The well is 19 km northeast of North Gorgon field in 806 m of water.

Wapet found Gorgon, Central Gorgon, and North Gorgon during the 1980s, but lack of market for the gas because of competition from Woodside Petroleum Group Pty Ltd.'s nearby North Rankin gas development project, combined with a high carbon dioxide content in the gas, until now has left the project uneconomic.

The Chrysaor find and recent successful appraisals in North Gorgon (OGJ, Nov. 21, 1994, p. 36) have revived Wapet's hopes for creating a new Northwest Shelf development and liquefied natural gas export project targeting Southeast Asia.

Wapet partners are units of Chevron Corp., Texaco Inc., and Royal Dutch/Shell Group, each with a little less than 29% interest, and Australia's Ampolex Ltd. 14.2%.