SA/NT

Four on the floor: Petroleum perspectives | Insights from Industry, Government and Academia | Expert Panel and Audience Q&A

25/09/2026 Posted by Rachel

PESA SA/NT shook up their usual luncheon format, replacing the customary single speaker with a panel of four experts to broaden the conversation and connect perspectives from across the sector.

The brief was simple: bring together voices from industry, government, and academia, and explore what each sees as the opportunities, challenges, and future directions for the petroleum sector. Drawing on decades of combined experience, each panellist shared a short presentation on a topic of their choosing.

Leslie Atkinson was up first and took us through Bass Oil’s exciting Triassic exploration opportunities in the Cooper Basin.

Understanding exploration success and failure in the Cooper and Eromanga Basins, South Australia

04/07/2026 Posted by Rachel

by David Spence

PESA SA/NT June Luncheon

Sharon Tiainen from DEM (Department for Energy and Mining, South Australia) provided attendees with an historical account of the exploration success and failure of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins in South Australia. Her talk was an expanded version of her presentation at the recent AEP conference held in Adelaide in May. Sharon is a geoscientist with extensive worldwide experience, having worked in all parts of the upstream E&P exploration and production industry.

Using statistical representations of open-file data, Sharon illustrated the patterns of gas exploration success, which followed a conventional basin exploration trend.

Cooper Basin – seismic processing & where it leads

09/06/2026 Posted by Rachel

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.

Update on Gold Hydrogen’s drilling on the Yorke Peninsula

06/06/2026 Posted by Rachel

By David Spence, Beach Energy

On 28 May 2026 the PESA SA/NT Branch received a fascinating talk on the technical geological side of hydrogen exploration from industry leader Peter Buberndorfer, Chief Geologist of pioneering hydrogen exploration company Gold Hydrogen.

The attendees were taken on a 2-billion-year ride through the regional geology of South Australia. Peter discussed the regional Proterozoic strata that are favourable for hydrogen generation along the boundary of the Gawler Craton.

Omega Oil and Gas and the Taroom Trough Story

06/04/2026 Posted by Rachel

The PESA SA/NT Branch welcomed Trevor Brown and Nathan Parker to give 36 members an update on Omega’s activity in the Taroom Trough, onshore Queensland.

Trevor introduced the company and gave an overview of the geology of the Bowen Basin, and this was followed by Nathan giving a very interesting history of the oil and gas industry in the region which started in the late 1800s.