Australia is seeking applications for exploration rights on 17 areas off its northern, southern, and western coasts.
Acreage in the country's second release this year includes:
- Nine permits off Western Australia in the Carnarvon and Perth basins.
- Five permits off Northern Territory in the Arafura and Bonaparte basins.
- One permit off South Australia in the Otway basin.
- Two permits off Victoria in the Gippsland basin.
All the permits are offered under the modified work program bidding system and are for 6 year terms. Applications must be submitted by Apr. 16, 1993.
CARNARVON BASIS
Six of the permits available off Western Australia are in Carnarvon basin.
Areas W92-5 and W92-6 are 180-200 km off Karratha in water depths of 200-300 m.
The areas are covered by regional and detailed seismic data recorded in 1986-89. One well has been drilled on each area.
Areas W92-7 through W92-10 are in the Beagle subbasin on the Northwest Shelf, 100-225 km off Dampier in water 75-1,000 m deep.
Two wells have been drilled in W92-10, three in or adjacent to W92-9, three in Area W92-8, and no wells have been drilled in W92-7.
No significant petroleum discoveries have been made, and all wells in the subbasin have been plugged and abandoned.
PERTH BASIN
Permits W92-11 through W92-13 are being offered in Perth basin.
Previous exploration has been concentrated onshore, where 137 wells have been drilled and more than 31,000 line km of seismic data gathered.
Offshore about 21 wells have been drilled and 50,000 line km of seismic surveys shot. Most of the basin lacks detailed, closely spaced seismic coverage, officials said.
The depth of prospective reservoirs ranges 2,000-5,000 m over most of the basin.
OFF NORTHERN TERRITORY
Areas NT92-3 through NT92-6 off Northern Territory in Arafura basin cover about 94,000 sq km north of Arnhem Land in water 30-200 m deep. Area NT92-7 covers about 13,400 sq km in Bonaparte basin in water depths of 20-100 m.
Industry conducted aeromagnetic and seismic exploration in the 1960s and 1970s, and recent seismic surveys were conducted in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Eight wells have been drilled in Arafura basin, all in Goulburn graben to the south. All the wells in Goulburn graben are classified as dry, but four had significant oil shows in the Paleozoic section.
Area NT92-7 in Bonaparte basin has sediments ranging in age from Devonian through Tertiary.
Several wells drilled nearby in the late 1960s and early 1970s found commercial quantities of gas, and the area is offset by a couple of wells with good oil shows. Only one well has been drilled in the area, which tested an anticline associated with a salt diapir, but it was abandoned with minor shows.
Officials noted with a relatively sparse grid of pre-1980s seismic over the area and only one well, the area has been only lightly tested.
OFF SOUTHERN COAST
Three permits are being offered off Australia's southern coast, one off South Australia and two off Victoria.
Area S92-1 covers about 4,736 sq km in Otway basin off South Australia in water generally less than 650 ft.
Since 1963 about 4,900 line km of seismic data has been acquired in the S92-1 permit area, Three wells, all dry, have been drilled, and nine wildcats have been drilled adjacent to the area onshore.
Areas V92-G1 and V92-G2 off Victoria are in the Gippsland basin.
Area V92-G1 covers about 2,900 sq km on the southern flank of the basin in water 100-200 m deep. It has been covered by aeromagnetic surveys conducted in 1961 and 1967 and seismic surveys conducted in 1980-89.
Area V92-G2 covers 3,100 sq km about 75 km south of Sale in water 3060 m deep. Officials said the area has been surveyed extensively with reconnaissance, semidetailed, and detailed grids of seismic during 1969-83, but post-1973 seismic coverage is sparse to the northwest and south.
Five wells have been drilled in or adjacent to the area, all were dry holes with no hydrocarbon shows, but officials said reservoir characteristics of the top of Cretaceous Latrobe in the area are very good.
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