WESTERN AUSTRALIA E&D ACTIVITY SIMMERING

Exploration and development action continues to simmer off Western Australia. BHP Petroleum Pty. Ltd. and partners are considering development of a string of Carnarvon basin oil discoveries at a cost of about $400 million (Australian). Meanwhile, BHP expects production to increase at Skua oil field, which it recently placed on stream in the Timor Sea (OGJ, Dec. 23, p. 32). Elsewhere off Western Australia, West Australian Petroleum Pty. Ltd. (Wapet), Perth, has gauged a sizable oil flow at a