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How might the Labour election victory impact PESA?

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The Australian Labor Party's decisive victory in the 2025 federal election, securing a substantial majority, has significant implications for the sub surface energy industry. While the sector faces challenges due to regulatory uncertainties,  environmental concerns, evolving climate policies, and financial support mechanisms, the election outcome also presents some opportunities for constructive engagement and policy reform.

While the outlook may not be so rosy for traditional Oil and Gas, the current political climate offers significant opportunities for subsurface activities that fall under their renewable energy banner, like Geothermal energy. Although the jury…

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Who is really running PESA?!?

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If you were to be a fly on the wall at PESA executive meetings you might be excused for thinking that all the real decisions were being made by a cat.

A one eyed black rescue cat named Boyd never misses a meeting, and does his best to be centre of attention and eclipse that pesky human (Helen Debenham) who thinks she should perhaps be visible.

Digging deeper we see that he commands a full feline committee across the country, With Chairman Pippi in South…

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“Drill Baby Drill”: Implications of Donald Trump’s 2nd Presidency for the US in the South China Sea

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Article by Ganesh Sahathevan. First published by Australian institute of International Affairs

Ganesh Sahathevan ERP, MGis (UNE) Grad Dip Spatial Info (UNSW) Director, Centre for Industrial Research Pty Ltd, Sydney, Australia. CFRI provides research on the business and politics of this region with a particular emphasis on the oil, gas and renewables industry.

The Trump campaign war cry “we will drill, baby, drill” could lead to a resurgence of oil and gas (O&G) exploration and production in the South China Sea when (and not if) President Donald Trump…

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PESA ETSIG CSIRO CCS Knowledge Transfer Series

PESA / CSIRO CCS Knowledge Transfer Series wraps up

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Peter Hoiles – PESA Webinar Coordinator

In early 2023, CSIRO and PESA’s Energy Transition Special Interest Group (ETSIG) joined forces to design a carbon capture and storage (CCS) knowledge transfer series.  The aim of the series was to highlight to the PESA audience what is different about CCS compared to what we know about and understand from oil and gas operations.  The series commenced in September 2023 and concluded in September 2024, with a total of twelve webinars presented. 

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Trump’s new Energy Czar is closely Connected to Australian ‘Top End’ Fraccing Companies

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By Dale Granger

US President-elect Donald Trump continues to ruffle feathers in Washington by tapping fraccing company executive Chris Wright to be secretary of energy, a key position in his new White House administration and a man with close ties to Australia.

Wright, in his capacity as chief executive of Liberty Energy, is closely linked to Australia as an investor in both Empire Energy and Tamboran Energy’s hydraulic stimulation initiatives in the Betaloo Basin in the Northern Territory.

…

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Keystone State will open Door to The White House with Fossil Fuel and Fraccing a Focal Point

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By Dale Granger

With the 2024 US election on the cusp of being announced, energy is once again front and centre in the tussle between Kamala Harris’s Democrats and Donald Trump’s MAGA movement for the keys of the White House.

At the time of going to press the election was balanced on a knife edge with all eyes focussed on Pennsylvania’s 19 electoral college votes, notably the prolific Utica and Marcellus shale basins,…

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From Russia with Oil … As Yet

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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…

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Ford Goes back to the Fossil Fuel Future Putting Dorado in the Spotlight

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Ford’s announcement in August that it would be shifting its focus from all electric vehicles to hybrid models has changed the gears of the world’s energy dynamics with other carmakers hinting at the possibility of adopting similar strategies.

“As the global leader in pickup trucks, we are future proofing this valuable franchise across all sizes with hybrid, electric and other electric propulsion giving individual customers and businesses choice based on how they used their trucks,” explained Ford President and CEO Jim Farley.

In the process,…

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Polarcus Seismic Survey Petrel Field

Acreage Release Restrictions Reading the ‘Last Rites’ on Offshore Exploration in Australia

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The ink had barely dried on the Federal Government’s Future Gas Policy announced in May and the euphoria was short lived barely a month later when Canberra belatedly announced new exploration export permits for the 2022 offshore acreage release.

Those with a glass half full attitude might toast Resources Minister Madelaine King – who often appears to be fighting a lone crusade in Canberra on behalf of the mining and oil and gas sector – for reaching this milestone two years later, but for many others in the geosciences sector the…

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So near, yet so FAR as Woodside flows first offshore oil from Senegal’s Sangomar

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Former FAR Energy MD Cath Norman and associates of the once revered junior Melbourne explorer would be forgiven for feeling a touch of nostalgic envy in June as Woodside flowed first oil – as well as the first cargoes of black gold offshore Senegal - from the Sangomar field.

Instead, the reaction from afar was one of jubilation as former colleagues at the company reacted with euphoria, even though FAR was no longer part of the journey crossing the finish line celebrating the climax of an odyssey that FAR had starred…

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