Attendees at this year’s PESA QLD Branch Symposium were first to see items featuring thenewly rebranded PESA Symposium artwork, designed by Leah Cummins of Bunya Designs.Leah, had an extensive career at Origin Energy, is now producing art through her ownbusiness www.bunyadesigns.com.au. Leah is a proud Mayi woman from North-WesternQueensland and described the meaning of new-look PESA QLD symposium artwork asfollows; “The large circles represent the states and territories, the contour lines represent thland and ocean, the kangaroo feet represent moving forward never backwards.”Judging by attendee feedback on the day, the new branding looks to be a success!
PESA Branch Activities
Queensand’s Kat Gioseffi Receives PESA Meritorious Service Award
PESA (Qld) Branch committee member and Santos Geologist, Katherine (Kat) Gioseffi, was the successful recipient of a PESA Meritorious Service Award (MSA) for 2024 in recognition of her unwavering passion for energy geoscience and her dedication to increasing society participation among early-career graduates.
Kat, who received her MSA at the Australian Energy Producers Conference and Exhibition in Perth in May, was nominated by the PESA (Qld) Branch in recognition of her steadfast pursuit of recruiting and retaining students and young career professionals to the upstream resources industry.
Kat commenced her support of PESA in 2014 as a student member, during which time she was the QUT recipient of the John Draper Award in recognition of her high academic achievement in the fields of sedimentology and stratigraphy.
South Australia Keeps Buzzing With a Hive of Activities
MONTHLY MEETINGS
In late September, PESA SA/NT was treated to an enthralling discussion from Glenn Toogood (entX) and Tim Rady (Geomorph Energy) discussing the salt cavern storage potential of the Polda Basin. This basin is a Neoproterozoic to Jurassic sedimentary basin, extending from the Great Australian Bight to the central Eyre Peninsula, South Australia. It has previously been explored for petroleum, uranium, coal, groundwater, base metals, potash and diamonds.
PESA WA Technical Luncheon: Unlocking New Gas Potential in Queensland’s Taroom Trough
By Xipo Zhang
On Thursday, 17th October 2024, PESA WA hosted a well-attended technical luncheon at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth. Over 50 industry professionals gathered to hear Neil Young, Managing Director of Elixir Energy, deliver an insightful presentation titled “A New Play is Being Proven in Queensland’s Taroom Trough”.
Neil Young’s presentation focused on the Grandis Project, Elixir Energy’s groundbreaking initiative in the Taroom Trough — a promising unconventional gas,play. Located in the Southern Bowen Basin, the Taroom Trough holds immense potential to supply gas to both East Coast and international markets.
PESA Horstman Federal Postgraduate Scholarship Winner’s Circle
Federal Programs and Scholarships Sub-Committee
By Bonnie Lowe-Young
As part of PESA’s ongoing program to foster and encourage subsurface energy geoscience research and education in Australia, PESA has annually offered Federal Postgraduate Scholarships to support PhD or Masters students undertaking geoscience research relevant to the exploration, development or production of energy resources in Australia.
Dr John Kaldi wins rare International Award
The SA/NT PESA Branch President, Dr John Kaldi was recently awarded the SidneyPowers Award by the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG) at the2024 IMAGE meeting in Houston.
PESA is an affiliate of AAPG. The SidneyPowers Memorial Award is given "…in recognition of distinguished and outstanding contributions to, or achievements in, petroleum geology".
It is AAPG’s most distinguished award and the award's previous recipients reads likea "who's who" of geo-legends, amazing scientists and inspirational leaders.Congratulations John being worthy to be in this rarified atmosphere.
PESA Lunch Digests the Year in Review and Ponders Future ones to come
The PESA WA Branch hosted a successful luncheon on August 15, 2024, at the Parmelia Hilton in Perth.The event began with welcoming remarks from Matthew Docherty, followed by a significant announcement from PESA President Helen Debenham, who proudly revealed the winner ofthe 2024 Survey. This annual survey is a testament to PESA’s dedication to recognizing excellence and innovation within the petroleum exploration and geosciences field.
The highlight was a presentation by Adam Craig, Principal Advisory at RISC Advisory.
SA/NT Serves up a Smorgasbord of ‘Highly Recommended’ Lunches with lots to Chew Over
Under the brilliant leadership of the PESA SA/NT Branch Vice President, Paul Strong, 2024 has seen the regular monthly lunchtime meetings continue with a smorgasbord of topics which are highly recommended for other branches and webinars.
July 2024 – Markus Häring,who recently returned to Adelaide to retire, spoke on Exploration for radioactive waste repositories near urban areas. Safe long term storage of nuclear waste is required even in countries without nuclear power plants. Switzerland produces about one third of its power with nuclear energy.
Melbana Energy talks Amistad-1 success to sell-out crowd
Melbana Energy’s Duncan Lockhart presented to an enthusiastic crowd of energygeoscientists (and prospective Melbana Energy shareholders) at the PESA (Qld) Branch’sMay 2024 technical luncheon and Annual General Meeting.
Duncan presented the results of Melbana Energy’s Amistad-1 discovery well, whichrecovered oil from three separate reservoirs and flowed >1900bopd from Unit 1B in 2023.Duncan also walked the luncheon attendees through the company’s next planned steps inCuba, including plans for a 400km 2 3D seismic survey and potential paths to market for therecovered resource.
Word of the substantial interest in Melbana Energy’s talk spread quickly, with Duncan quicklybeing approached by enthusiastic members of the PESA NSW Branch to take hispresentation on the road.
Queensland’s Kat Gioseffi receives PESA Meritorious Service Award
PESA (Qld) Branch committee member and Santos Geologist, Katherine (Kat) Gioseffi, was the successful recipient of a PESA Meritorious Service Award (MSA) for 2024 in recognition of her unwavering passion for energy geoscience and her dedication to increasing society participation among early-career graduates.
Kat, who received her MSA at the Australian Energy Producers Conference and Exhibition in Perth in May, was nominated by the PESA (Qld) Branch in recognition of her steadfast pursuit of recruiting and retaining students and young career professionals to the upstream resources industry.
Kat commenced her support of PESA in 2014 as a student member, during which time she was the QUT recipient of the John Draper Award in recognition of her high academic achievement in the fields of sedimentology and stratigraphy.