Curtin Geoscientists and Engineers Club (CGEC) and Curtin Energy Society (CES) came together on Wednesday, 12th August, to host a networking night for students at Curtin University, supported by the PESA WA Branch. The event commenced with an introduction from PESA Curtin Student Representative and PhD Candidate at Curtin University, Princy Agrahari, in the presence of Adam Craig, Vice President of PESA WA.
The evening featured three technical talks from industry professionals.
On Friday 4th September, a group of PESA members arrived at lunchtime to the NT Core Library in Alice Springs to participate in a fieldtrip to the Amadeus Basin organised by PESA WA and open to members of PESA from all branches. We were also strongly supported by the NT Geological Survey and by Peter Haines from the WA Geological Survey, who led the fieldtrip. A total of 19 geologists, geophysicists and engineers came along from Queensland, Adelaide and NT and of course WA.
Image above: From left to right back: Charlie Verdel, Antoine Dillinger, Jeremy Prosser, Ralph Youie, Peter Haines, Chemseddine Nahal, Damien Kelly, Reuben Hansman, Emma Jager, Toby Colson, Nick White, Ivana Gear and Martin Nagel.
Thanks to sponsors Ikon Science and Axiom Edge Solutions, on Friday night, the WA branch held their Winter Warmer event as an opportunity for relaxed networking and a catch up with old friends at the Globe pub in the centre of Perth. Serenaded by a 2 piece Jazz band, and fuelled with nibbles and drinks everyone had a great time.
Take a look at some of the photos below
Approximately 40 people gathered for the WA June technical luncheon at the Melbourne to hear a very informative talk on the history of the energy transition, achievements to date and the outlook for the future, by Dr Peter Moore, industry luminary and a recognised National Geoscience Champion.
Peter gave a global perspective and showed that global energy consumption continues to grow with renewables share increasing, and fossil fuels production also continuing to grow despite declining share. Gas has played a key role in reducing energy poverty in SE Asia. Electrification from renewables, stabilised by gas has been a key theme.
Mathieu Muller (CCS and Gas Supply Manager at INPEX Australia), Paul Froydenlund (Senior CCS Geoscientist at INPEX Australia), Dr Fiona Burns (Perth/APAC Manager at Task Fronterra Geoscience and PESA WA President), Ratih Puspitasari (Senior Geomechanics Engineer at SLB in Australia) and Dr Eric Tenthorey (Senior Researcher at Geoscience Australia) all presented at this special annual joint PESA-SPE event held at the Hilton on the evening of the 14th May.
As part of its Vision 2035, INPEX is progressing carbon capture and storage (CCS) initiatives to support lower-carbon energy solutions. Mathieu’s and Paul’s talk provided an overview of INPEX’s global CCS strategy.
Dr. John Gorter was a renowned sedimentary geologist based in recent years in Perth, Australia, and is recognized for his contributions to global oil and gas exploration, basin analysis and paleontological studies.
Dr Gorter had a passion for geology, observation, evidence and documenting.
Dr Gorter was writing his autobiography and memoirs before he tragically and unexpectedly passed away in Madagascar in May 2024.
John’s writings are being compiled and published by his wife, Eva Skira AM.
4-6pm Thursday 16 July 2026
Mayfair Lane Pub, 72 Outram St, West Perth
Attendance by invitation. Please contact Eva Skira at eskira26@gmail.com
On 17th March, Alex Muftei presented on the topic of his PhD thesis, which he hasundertaken at Curtin University, supervised by Chris Elders, Simon Lang and Robert Seggie.
”Stretching or flexing - a review of the Triassic from the Northern Carnarvon and RoebuckBasins” was the title of his talk. Alex presented the results of his mammoth interpretationeffort, which included Triassic formation tops for 442 wells within a sequence-stratigraphicframework, at least four key Triassic horizons, and more than 2300 faults interpreted in anextremely large seismic dataset!
The talk was attended by 25 people and held at the Shoe Bar in Yagan Square.
PESA WA held their annual AGM and Christmas Luncheon at The Hilton on 18 th December, with over 135 people attending. Past events held during 2025 were summarised by Fiona Burns (PESA WA president), while Peter Hoiles (Treasurer) provided an overview of the years’ finances. During 2025, PESA WA held regular monthly talks, as well as numerous workshops and courses provided by energy experts from Australia, and from overseas such as Mark Bentley, Henry Posamentier, John Holbrock and Steve Hasiotis.
Our guest speaker, Julia Davies, is energy industry professional with over forty years of experience in the industry.
Write up by Helen Debenham. Photos from Helen Debenham and Karen Pandya.
On Friday night (6th February) a group of PESA members, led by Stephen Molyneux, and ably assisted by Peter Haines and Leon Normore from the geological survey, wandered through the streets of Perth looking at building stones and other geological wonders.
If you are sad to have missed this, you can take a look at the guide below that talks you through a self guided similar tour.
https://dmpbookshop.eruditetechnologies.com.au/product/stepping-stones-two-self-guided-geology-trails-in-the-city.do
Our intrepid walkers met up in the Melbourne Hotel on Hay street, where, as you can see in the image below, there is some lovely amygdaloidal basalt in the passageway down towards the toilets.
The annual ASEG-PESA golf classic event was held on 4th December in glorious weather at Wanneroo Golf club where nearly 92 golfers turned out to compete for glory and prizes.
We are happy to announce that the results were:
Team Winners
1st – Kurt Chambers, Rodger Edgecombe, Murray Burling, Blair Berglin
2nd – John Coffin, Peter Chia, Darren Lee and Edward Coffin
3rd – Alex Karvelas, Kevin Moran. Aaron Pederson, Adam Vonk
Individual Winners
Nearest to Pin sponsored by Xcalibur – Greg Turner
Nearest to Pin sponsored by Delft Inversion – David Christianson
Nearest to Pin sponsored by NRG – Aaron Pederson