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.
Using a combination of water testing and machine learning, a U.S. Geological Survey-led study estimated between 5 and 19 million tons of lithium reserves are located beneath southwestern Arkansas, in the USA. If commercially recoverable, the amount of lithium present would meet projected 2030 world demand for lithium in car batteries nine times over.
The study’s novel methodology, carried out collaboratively by the USGS and the Arkansas Department of Energy and Environment’s Office of the State Geologist, made it possible to quantify the amount of lithium present in brines located in a geological unit known as the Smackover Formation.
By Dr James Jeffs,Principal Technology Analyst at IDTechEx
IDTechEx’s report, “Sustainable Future Aviation 2025-2045: Trends, Technologies, Forecasts”, finds that hydrogen is likely to be a main contender for decarbonizing the aviation industry. The report finds that the hydrogen commercial airliner market will exceed US$20 billion in 2045. However, the technology used on the planes and the source of the hydrogen needs to be considered carefully before the industry can celebrate significant carbon reductions. If done incorrectly, hydrogen planes could be worse for the environment than existing jet fuel-powered planes.
There are three key issues and choices that...
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.
Rystad Energy’s market update from Middle East Research Director, Aditya Saraswat:
“Tensions are persisting in the Middle East and the humanitarian toll is climbing.Energy market fundamentals have been largely unaffected to date, but this could change at a moment’s notice.
In a widespread regional war scenario, Iran and Israel's conflict could severely impact gas exports and lead to delays in oil development projects.
Attacks on key facilities may threaten nearly 1.4 million bpd of Iranian production, causing significant supply disruptions.
A full-blown war could choke the Strait of Hormuz, risking up to 12 million bpd of oil, driving prices up sharply.
By Eugene Kharkutov and Ellen Starostina
The history, current state and prospects of development of the Russian oil market and its world impact are considered and analysed. The author uses methods of systematic and comparative analysis in the context of the global, and Mideast oil industry. The main conclusions of the article are that, despite the imposed sanctions, the highly motorized market of Russia performs so far quite well and will adapt a wider use of domestically produced natural gas. Though it has shrunk, Russian oil exports have shifted from the usual Western destinations to the East.
Source: https://www. morethanshipping.com [2]
Figure 1.
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.
Contrary to information that has been incorrectly published recently in PESA News, reporting the new acquisition of seismic data in offshore Papua New Guinea (PNG) by Shearwater, the Nanamarope Non-Exclusive 3D Marine Seismic Survey was actually acquired by Searcher, utilising PXGEO's Seismic Research Vessel (SRV) PXGEO 2. The survey was acquired between May and June 2023, with final processing deliverables released in March 2024.
The acquisition of the Nanamarope survey adds to Searcher's vast multi-disciplinary geotechnical database in PNG, which includes over 80,000 km of 2D new acquisition and reprocessing, 3,500 sqkm of 3D new acquisition and reprocessing, as well as 60,000 sqkm of Airborne Gravity Gradiometry & Magnetics data and a Geochemical survey covering offshore PNG (Figure 1).
Viridien has been awarded a comprehensive remote sensing program by Minerals Development Oman (MDO),in the Sultanate of Oman, to identify, map and rank mineralization prospectivity potential across seven concessions, covering a total area of 16,000 km².
Following a series of remote sensing programs conducted to support mineral exploration initiatives, Viridien said it was now pleased to aid the strategic development of Oman's mineral resources led by MDO.
Viridien's multi-disciplinary team of experts will use machine learning, high-performance computing, advanced processing algorithms and archives of multi- and hyperspectral satellite imagery to create their innovative Bare Earth Plus models.
Partial scholarships are up for grabsfor women in the Energy and Utilities Industry ranging from $1,000 to $6,000per person, for one of four leadership and workplace skill development programs.
These scholarships are aimed at encouraging more women to increase their impact at work, progress their career, and step into leadership roles.
Registrations of interest close on Friday 29 November 2024. Via our website: https://www.wla.edu.au/industry/energy/