Wednesday, May 28, 2025
2:00 PM – 3:15 PM
Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre
Details
Catch up on all the highlights of 2024 from across the Australian upstream industry in this session which is an annual conference staple.
Presentations
2024 2024 Exploration year in review
Sue Slater (Consultant)
2024 Development and Production Review
Martin Wilkes (RISC Advisory)
2024 Business Environment year in review
Anne Forbes (Wood Mackenzie)
Ms Sue Slater
QLD Branch Vice President
PESA Energy Geoscience
2024 Exploration year in review
2:02 PM – 2:26 PM
Abstract
Petroleum exploration expenditure increased both offshore and onshore compared to 2023 numbers, however this does not equate to a commensurate increase in activity. Onshore jurisdictions dominate the exploration and appraisal activities. In total 82 exploration and appraisal wells were drilled in 2024 (spud date after 31 December 2023). Sixty of these were appraisal wells, and this was dominated by coal seam gas appraisal drilling in Queensland. Despite the release of the Australian Government’s Future Gas Strategy, there does not appear to be much in the way of tangible actions to increase exploration. All jurisdictions make land available for exploration via competitive tender, but in 2024 there were no land releases. Seismic activity in offshore jurisdictions is being limited with new Commonwealth awards being granted without the right to acquire new seismic. Carbon sequestration (CCS) activity continued offshore with the grant of eight of the 2023 land release areas occurring in 2024. While Western Australia, South Australia and the Northern Territory are taking steps to create the framework for CCS exploration, in Queensland a sudden announcement saw the cessation of all CCS activity in the Great Artesian Basin, and importantly also the underlying strata. This ban applies to the use of CO2 in enhanced oil recovery as well. South Australia continues to take lead in natural hydrogen exploration.
Biography
Sue is a geologist and currently retired from full-time work but continues to consult occasionally through Ray Slater & Associates. She has been a member of the PESA (Petroleum Exploration Society of Australia) Queensland branch committee since 2007, serving as Branch President for 4 years between 2009 and 2014, and remains an active member of that committee. In 2017 Sue’s contributions to PESA and the Queensland petroleum sector were recognised by the award of Distinguished Member of PESA. In 2019 Sue won the inaugural Exceptional Woman in Exploration in Queensland Resources Award from WIMARQ and QRC. Sue was President of QUPEX (Queensland Petroleum Exploration Association) in 2022.
Mr Martin Wilkes
Managing Director
RISC Advisory
2024 Development and Production Review
2:27 PM – 2:51 PM
Abstract
Geopolitical uncertainty continued in 2024 with continuation of the war in Ukraine, Israeli actions in the Gaza strip, tension between China and several neighbouring countries, and the impending election in the United States of America. Despite this, global inflationary pressures continued to fall during the year, although they remined higher than pre-pandemic levels. In Australia activism around climate change issues continued to impact project developments and sentiment in the industry remained somewhat subdued. The PESA 2024 Development and Production Review looks back at the oil and gas development and production activities in Australia in 2024 and tries to provide some sense of what happened, and what that means for the industry looking forward.
LNG production in Australia recorded (unexpectedly) a new record high, although several projects are now facing declining production. Santos won a significant court case in January 2024 on the Barossa project, enabling it to resume construction activity, and later in the year Woodside also overcame legal hurdles on their Scarborough project. The East coast domestic market continues to have major concerns about gas supply and one of the 3 Gas plants at Longford was shutdown reducing supply and processing capacity significantly. Gas supply remains a critical issue in the Northern Territory.
Biography
Martin Wilkes is the Managing Director of RISC, an independent International Energy Advisory company headquartered in Perth, Western Australia. Martin is a Chartered Engineer and a member of the Association of International Petroleum Negotiators (AIPN). He has a Master of Engineering Degree from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne in the UK Martin has worked in the energy industry for over 30 years, holding a range of international positions including project development, business leadership and planning, corporate governance, and technical training. Since joining RISC in 2010 he has provided advice to clients on hundreds of projects, including over 30% of the world’s LNG projects, and several multi-billion dollar transactions.
Dr Anne Forbes
Senior Analyst
Wood Mackenzie
2024 Business Environment year in review
2:52 PM – 3:16 PM
Abstract
In 2024, the oil and gas industry navigated a complex landscape shaped by the energy transition, geopolitical tensions, and macroeconomic challenges. Intensifying pressure to decarbonise has led to growth in carbon capture and storage projects but progress at many mega-scale hydrogen projects has fizzled out.
With oil and gas demand continuing to grow, many players that had been looking to diversify leaned back into their upstream portfolios, looking for new opportunities to build and grow.
As a result, upstream M&A activity remained robust, with a focus on consolidation in US shale and world-class ‘advantaged assets’. However, spend was down on the record levels seen in 2023 following the giant ExxonMobil-Pioneer and Chevron-Hess acquisitions.
This was reflected in Australia too, with fewer deals than 2023. However the deals that did complete in 2024 were large and strategically important. These included Chevron and Woodside’s Australian LNG asset swap and Hancock acquiring Mineral Resources’ Lockyer gas project.
The industry also grappled with high interest rates, inflation, and supply chain constraints, leading to increased capex costs and some delays to project sanctioning. Exploration activity decreased, but significant discoveries were made in West Africa in particular. Offshore Australian exploration is at an all-time low, however, onshore activity kept pace with 2023.
Looking ahead, key areas to watch include investment in low-carbon technologies, big gas project deliveries, geopolitical and economic policy shifts, particularly in the US, and the long-term impact of cost pressures on project economics.
Biography
Anne is a senior research analyst in Wood Mackenzie’s Australasia upstream research team. Since joining in early 2022, she has worked on oil and gas assets and the domestic market balance across Australia. Prior to Wood Mackenzie Anne spent eight years at Chemostrat in a technical geological role in the upstream industry. She specialised in stratigraphic analysis and has worked across Australia’s principal producing basins. She has a Bachelors and Masters in Geology from the University of Cambridge, and a PhD in Volcanology from the Open University.
Mrs Jantje Spilsbury-schakel
President
PESA Energy Geoscience
Session Chair
Biography
Janny commenced working in the oil and gas industry in the late 1980’s, as a wellsite petroleum engineer, and was one of the first women working offshore in the North Sea. She subsequently held a range of positions from development and reservoir geologist to development manager, chief geologist, general manager and her last position as senior vice president subsurface. She has worked for Shell, Santos (twice), Woodside and Oil Search, in Europe, Russia, Malaysia, Australia and North and South America. She has also been actively involved with the School of Petroleum at Adelaide Uni and the Centre for Natural Gas at UQ. She is now semi-retired and focusses on voluntary work, (advisory) boards and mentoring. Janny is the Federal President of PESA Energy Geoscience 2025-2027 and enjoys living on the beautiful Sunshine Coast Hinterland.
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