By Dr. Simon Brealey
As is becoming traditional, stalwart devotees of the terroir of the McLaren Vale Wine Region (yes, it’s a bona fide appellation) gathered under a darkening sky in late September to receive the wisdom and tasting notes of Professor Alan Collins of Adelaide University.
Picking up stragglers as we headed south on the 40-minute drive we examined the beautifully-produced geological maps kindly provided by the Dept. Mines (or whatever they were called last week) and...
Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Matt Canavan, has welcomed a new seismic survey probing for gas and mineral resources in the Northern Territory’s Barkly region.
The 820km survey is in an area where little exploration has previously taken place and is being hailed as a potential ‘missing link’ between Mt. Isa and the Betaloo sub-basin.
Mr Canavan described the Beetaloo as a sub-basin with potential to deliver 178,000 Petajoules of shale gas, a bigger basket than...
Polarcus has continued its offshore West African safari by announcing another 4D marine seismic acquisition project in the region.
The seismic service provider said the project duration would be approximately two months and is scheduled to start in the fourth quarter of 2019, after a scheduled class docking.
Polarcus did not provide further details about the project and had worked on a seismic project in the same area offshore West Africa earlier this year.
On the same day last week that TGS announced the commencement of its Midnight 3D seismic survey to “further solidify its core position in the Inga/Fireweed area” of British Columbia, Canada, the seismic services provider revealed it would also conduct a new 3D multi-client project offshore Argentina.
The Norwegian company said the British Columbia survey merges into TGS’ existing onshore Canadian seismic data coverage in the condensate region of the Montney basin and straddles a...
Cairn Energy has hit a dry well in the first well of its drilling program offshore Mexico, where the exploration target of the Alom-1 well on Block 9 failed to prove hydrocarbons, the UK-based independent oil and gas company said.
The company said the well would now be permanently plugged and abandoned after data collected and preliminary analysis had indicated over 500m of “high quality water bearing sands across multiple targets”.
“This information will help Cairn calibrate...
Of the 38 global oil and gas discoveries made in the third quarter of 2019, six were located in Norway, according to analytics and data company, GlobalData.
This was followed by Colombia with five discoveries, Egypt and Trinidad with four each and Guyana and the United Arab Emirates (UAE) with three each.
The company’s latest report, Q3 2019 Global Oil and Gas Discoveries Review – South America and Europe Dominate with Highest Number of Discoveries in Quarter, notes that 21 of the...
Searcher Seismic has announced the expansion of its modern offshore data library with the completion of its Northern Basins Prospectivity Study in Papua New Guinea.
Searcher, in conjunction with Discover Geoscience, has compiled the Northern Basins Prospectivity Study following its successful acquisition of the Solomon Sea Broadband Non-Exclusive 2D seismic survey in 2017.
Searcher said the study offers the industry a detailed understanding of the basins and hydrocarbon potential of...
The natural gas industry contributed around $55 billion to Queensland’s economy over a seven-year period, according to a new report released recently by Lawrence Consulting.
In reaction to the findings, APPEA said the report underlines the importance of the sector for jobs and economic wealth creation for the state, particularly in regional areas such as Gladstone, Toowoomba, Roma, Chinchilla and Dalby and highlights that Brisbane is the state’s biggest gas town and relies on the...
BEACH Energy has reported a new gas discovery at the Beharra Springs Deep-1 well in the Perth Basin and told the ASX that it had delivered a net gas pay of 36 metres across the Kingia sandstone.
Beach, operator and 50% interest holder in the licence with Mitsui E&P holding the balance, said the Kingia Sandstone reservoir was comparable to Waitsia-4 and preliminary interpretation had indicated reservoir porosities of up to 21%.
Wireline activities are continuing, after which the well...
Chevron and Total have been awarded blocks offshore Brazil in the country’s 16th bidding round.
The US supermajor and its partners, Wintershall Dea and Repsol, picked up acreage in the Santos and Campos basins comprising blocks S-M-766 and C-M-845, which contain pre-salt targets and a work program intended to conduct 3D seismic acquisition and prospect maturation.
French Total and co-venturers Qatar Petroleum and Petronas won the C-M-541 deep offshore block in the Campos Basin,...