Fiona Burns took over the role as PESA President of the WA Branch during December 2024. She is a Sedimentologist/Ichnologist and Borehole Image Specialist, with over 30 years’ experience in the energy sector working on petroleum reservoirs. She works with the team at TaskFronterra in Perth and has been involved in projects throughout Australia and worldwide including Indonesia, West Africa, offshore China, North Sea and NZ. Prior to her time at TaskFronterra she worked through her...
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US Power Prices ‘Set to Surge’ saysWoodMac
LOBE NEWSWIRE) -- US power demand has remained essentially flat for the past decade, but this is all about to change as a pending surge in demand growth will be the biggest challenge for utility companies in decades, according to the latest Horizons report from Wood Mackenzie.
According to the report, “Gridlock: the demand dilemma facing the US power industry” US electricity demand growth will be between 4% and 15% through 2029, depending on the region, with burgeoning data-centre...

Back to Uni mean renewal time for PESA student members
As a new academic year starts it also means it is renewal time for all of our PESA student members, whose membership will automatically lapse on 31st March unless renewed.
To continue your PESA student membership you will need to provide to PESA membership - membership@pesa.com.au:
- Evidence to support your status as a PESA Student Member (select one from the options below or similar)
- Student number and/or copy of student card
- Expected year of graduation
Such evidence...

Congratulations Andrew
Congratulations to Andrew Riznyczok who has been awarded a Meritorious Service Award for his work as the Secretary of the ACT-NSW Branch for the last 10 years.
Many thanks Andrew! We look forward to presenting the award to you at the AGM in May.
Andrew Riznyczok graduated with a Bachelor of Science, majoring in Geology at the University of NSW in 2015. During Andrew’s university semester break, he began in the petroleum industry working for Bridgeport Energy as a sample catcher...

Geoscience data management can help reduce subsurface uncertainty
Author Neil Constantine
When modelling the subsurface as geoscientists and engineers, we work with multiple sources of data to ensure we best understand and mitigate any uncertainty. Raw data such as wells and seismic are key to improving our understanding of the subsurface, but we also rely on previous projects, interpretations and models to help fast track our knowledge. But what if these add to our uncertainty, with projects of unknown provenance requiring time to find, understand and...

Looking Forward to PESA deal day 2025
The PESA 2025 Deal Day will bring high quality exploration, appraisal and development
opportunities from Australia and beyond to the attention of the international oil and gas
industry. The Deal Day is to be held in conjunction with the 2025 AEP Conference (formerly
APPEA) thereby ensuring a wide exposure to industry leaders.
Company representatives will review the technical and commercial aspects of their
opportunities via short presentations, using selected data. There will be time...

Chris Watts – New Insights into Energy Geoscience from Postgraduate Research
The Horstman Federal Postgraduate Scholarship, initially launched by PESA in 2019,
continues to attract a growing number of talented applicants pursuing energy geoscience
focussed PhD and Masters projects at universities across Australia.
Last year, a record 21 applications were received for the PESA Horstman Federal
Postgraduate Scholarship from candidates based in Brisbane, Sydney, Wollongong,
Adelaide, and Perth. Research topics were very diverse, ranging from regional basin...

PESA Strategy – towards 2030
Every four-five years the PESA Federal Board spend a day meeting in person (where possible) to review and update the Society’s strategic plan. The first such plan was released in 2016 with the aim of navigating the downturn in the industry and building foundations for PESA’s future. The second plan (Towards 2024) was released in 2019 with a 5 year operational time frame set within a 10 year planning horizon. The plan was revisited in 2021 but had the means to weather the Covid-19...

2025 PESA Webinar Series Kicks Off
Peter Hoiles – PESA Webinar Coordinator
Running into its sixth year, the PESA Webinar Series has returned for 2025. Generally run every second Tuesday of the month from February to about November, the series offers members from all states and territories the opportunity to hear updates, challenges, stories and field examples from Australia and across the world.
The series kicked off for 2025 on Tuesday the 4th of February, with a talk by Donald Christie from Fugro. In this...

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