May 18 2026 saw Santos announce first oil from their Pikka project on Alaska's North Slope. One of their tier 1 assets, as per recent investor day briefing, this is a significant milestone for the Australian company. The Pikka project targets the Nanushuk Formation - a Lower Cretaceous (Albian-Cenomanian) shallow marine to non-marine succession that overlies the Torok Formation (Alaska Department of Natural Resources, 2017). The Nanushuk represents a major clinoformal succession that filled the western Colville foreland basin by prograding west to east, along the basin axis (Alaska Department of Natural Resources, 2017).
General
70 years of exploration in the Cooper Eromanga Basins: what we can learn from collective success and failure
Our AEP 2026 peer-reviewed paper - Understanding exploration success and failure in the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, South Australia - presents an integrated analysis of open-file well, production, and licensing data to understand the drivers of exploration success and failure. Some 800 exploration wells (Figure 1) have resulted in production of approximately 260 million barrels of oil and 8 trillion cubic feet of raw gas, confirming the basins’ status as a significant onshore petroleum province.
Cooper Basin – seismic processing & where it leads
By Paul Strong, SA/NT Branch President
On 30 April 2026 the PESA SA/NT Branch held a joint meeting with the ASEG, listening to an interesting talk by consultant Peter Strauss regarding the processing of seismic data in the Cooper Basin, a topic that would be expected to be well known.
Peter challenged the conventions on seismic processing onshore Australia, with modern land 3D seismic datasets often not being fit-for-purpose when targeting smaller-scale structures, with some wells probably not having been drilled in the right place.
AEP: PESA Year in Review 2025
The PESA year in review session at this year's AEP in Adelaide was a popular event, with a crowd coming to hear insights from the PESA speakers. The speakers this year were: Martin Wilkes from RISC Advisory talking about Production and Development; Anne Forbes from Wood Mackenzie talking about the Business Environment, and; Andrew McKerron from PESA SA/NT branch talking about Exploration.
You can read their abstracts below and access their extended AEP abstracts via the PESA Library. Each speaker will be giving a version of their talk in an upcoming webinar with details below.
Access the AEP Extended Abstract here.
PESA Queensland May Meeting
By Sue Slater, PESA Queensland Branch President
On Thursday 28 th May PESA Qld held their second technical lunch for 2026. Comet Ridge’s Tor McCaul and Mel Fitzell gave a capacity crowd an update on the Mahalo Gas Hub project.
Comet Ridge has secured a significant acreage position at the Mahalo Gas Hub in the southern Bowen Basin. This region is shaping up to be a major gas production hub for the east coast, with proven ommercial production rates, development-ready 2P gas reserves, and excellent access to key infrastructure to domestic and LNG export markets.
2026 PESA AGM and AEP
Our 2026 AGM was held on Monday 18th May in Adelaide. It was smooth sailing through the official parts, and we were happy to celebrate the announcement of our 2026 Barry Goldstein Award winner; Professor Ken McClay.
We also handed over the 40-year (!!!) continuous membership certificate to Mick Small. All other certificates were taken by the Branch Presidents to be handed over at Branch events throughout the year.
The PESA conference booth was organised and staffed by volunteers from the SA/NT Branch, as well as a number of interstate members.
True Stratigraphic Thickness – Where and Why It Matters
Prepared for PESA by Lawrence Grant-Woolley, Senior Geologist at Todd Energy
Lawrence Grant-Woolley is a development geologist with more than 27 years petroleum geology experience working offshore and onshore with clastic and carbonate reservoirs. Currently working as a Senior Geologist at Todd Energy, his career has spanned the globe with time spent working in Aberdeen, Oman, Jakarta and Adelaide. This article was inspired by a recent presentation given at a TNav Technology Summit in Brisbane.
In recent years I have worked steeply dipping complex structured fields. Review of existing models and correlations reinforced the need for True Stratigraphic Thickness (TST).
Santos announces Alaska appraisal success and provides major projects update
On 8 April 2016, Santos announced the successful completion of the Quokka-1 appraisal well, which has further delineated the high-quality Nanushuk reservoir in the Quokka Unit on Alaska’s North Slope. Santos controls a 51 per cent operating interest in the unit, with Repsol controlling the remaining 49 per cent.
The Quokka-1 well was spudded on 1 January 2026 and drilled to a total depth of 4,787 feet (1,459 metres). The well successfully encountered a high-quality reservoir with approximately 143 feet of net oil pay in the Nanushuk formation, demonstrating an average porosity of 19 per cent.
PESA 2025 MSA Awards – Cristy Little and Vincent Crombez
The PESA Meritorious Service Award (MSA) recognizes individuals who voluntarily provide exceptional service to PESA at State or Federal level over a significant period of time. No more than three MSAs are made in a single year, and an individual can only receive the award once.
We are happy to announce that Cristy Little and Vincent Crombez have been nominated successfully by the WA Branch for the MSA award for their contributions to PESA.
Cristy was nominated for her role as Sponsorship Manager for the WA Branch Committee. She has been instrumental in securing significant sponsorship from the WA industry.
PESA 2025 DSA Award – Dr John Conolly
The PESA Distinguished Service Award (DSA) recognises outstanding long-term commitment to the Society, including leadership and involvement in Committees, the profession and to the resources industry. It is the highest honour bestowed on an individual member by the Society and only one DSA award is given in any year. A recipient of the DSA becomes a Distinguished Member of the society.
We are delighted to announce that John Conolly was nominated successfully for the DSA award by the PESA NSW & ACT Branch for his outstanding contributions to PESA and the industry.
Over a period spanning more than 50 years, John has made a profound impact on the industry in roles covering academia, industry leadership and independent consulting.