PESA are pleased to announce the Dr Peter Moore, Adjunct Professor from Curtin University and 2023 National Geoscience Champion, will be giving a lecture tour to the PESA branches this year. Through June to September, he will be visiting each of the branches to give his perspectives on the petroleum industry and predictions for the future.
Tour Dates for your diary:
- VIC/TAS – 3rd June
- WA – 25 June
- NSW/ACT – 14 July
- SA/NT – 27 August
- QLD – 7 September (as part of the Qld Symposium)
“Petroleum geoscience and the energy transition: a personal historical perspective and predictions for the future”
The petroleum industry was technologically advanced by the mid 1900s, but a number of developments over the last half century stand out in the areas of seismic, sequence stratigraphy, assessment technologies, deepwater plays, drilling, offshore developments, CSG and shale, which will be discussed, including from a personal perspective. These developments have served to maintain the competitiveness of the petroleum industry and have satisfied an increasing demand over time.
However, a key question for the industry is its future role in the evolving energy transition. Analysis is difficult because there are multiple competing narratives and strong vested interests.
Today we sit at a pivot point, with a growing divergence of possible energy futures, depending on how the world balances economic growth, energy poverty, geopolitics, and great power competition against emissions reduction, fossil fuel elimination and climate change concerns.
In the decade since the Paris agreement and despite significant progress, the 1.5oC goal is lost and fossil fuel’s contribution to energy consumption remains at 80%.
While both sides (fossil fuel supporters and renewable proponents) argue their case, the next 15 years at least is becoming clearer – a US/China energy and manufacturing divide, huge growth of renewables but matched by overall energy growth, the emergence of nuclear, and the persistence of petroleum, especially gas.
Despite trillions of dollars spent on the energy transition, we have underestimated the difficulty in speedily transitioning the world’s energy and industrial infrastructure, and have underestimated global growth, including overall energy consumption. This can be seen by comparing predictions and model outcomes published over the last decade.
For today’s petroleum geoscientists, technology and jobs will continue to evolve while new areas are likely to include advanced geothermal, CCS, and potentially natural hydrogen. As fields decline and new developments and discoveries become smaller, more effort and technology are required from petroleum companies and individuals to deliver the energy the world still demands.
About the Speaker – Adjunct Professor Peter Moore
Peter has over 40 years of experience in the resources industry and academia. Peter was awarded a BSc with 1st class honours from the University of Wollongong, a PhD from the University of Adelaide, and an Executive MBA from Melbourne University. Most of his career has been spent in senior and executive management roles within the oil and gas industry, mainly at Esso Australia, Exxon Exploration Company in Houston, and Woodside Energy.
In Houston, he was the Geological Advisor for exploration in Chad and Niger, then the head of Global Studies for Exxon Exploration Company, running a diverse set of teams involved in basin studies, new geoscience technologies, global basin, play, prospect and asset assessments, opportunity pursuit, and stewardship of Exxon’s Global Seriatum of opportunities.
At Woodside, Peter held many roles, including as Chief Geologist and Head of Evaluation, leading the company’s Geoscience Technology function, and heading up exploration in Australia and in the deepwater Gulf of Mexico, ultimately ending up as the EVP responsible for global exploration.
Peter retired from Woodside in 2013, and joined Curtin University, initially as Chair of the Graduate School’s Advisory Board, and then as a Professor within the Faculty of Business and Law. A seasoned company director, Peter has served on the boards of Central Petroleum, Carnarvon Energy and most recently, Beach Energy. He is also a former Chair of Earth Sciences WA, and of Curtin University’s Faculty of Science and Engineering Council.
Currently, Peter is an Adjunct Professor at Curtin University. He has his own consulting company which provides advice and executive education throughout Australia and overseas, focused on resources and energy.
In 2023, he was recognized as a National Geoscience Champion by the Australian Geoscience Council in recognition of the major contribution he has made to Australian Geoscience through decades of work and research across government, industry and academia. AGC specifically commended Peter as a significant contributor to the understanding of sedimentary basins in Australia, to economic development and to technical management influencing global basin studies overseas.
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04/12/2025