by David Spence
PESA SA/NT June Luncheon
Sharon Tiainen from DEM (Department for Energy and Mining, South Australia) provided attendees with an historical account of the exploration success and failure of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins in South Australia. Her talk was an expanded version of her presentation at the recent AEP conference held in Adelaide in May. Sharon is a geoscientist with extensive worldwide experience, having worked in all parts of the upstream E&P exploration and production industry.
Using statistical representations of open-file data, Sharon illustrated the patterns of gas exploration success, which followed a conventional basin exploration trend. She also highlighted the more unusual pattern of major oil discoveries, and the relationship to regulatory changes that enabled new operators to enter the basin.
Sharon highlighted underexplored areas of the basin and demonstrated the value of a well-organised, publicly accessible database. Her comparison of exploration intensity in the U.S. Permian Basin with that of the Cooper and Eromanga Basins sparked lively discussion among attendees, leading to an extended Q&A session that reflected the local branch’s strong interest in further exploration within South Australia’s petroleum industry.
Sharon’s AEP paper can be accessed through this DEM webpage https://www.energymining.sa.gov.au/industry/energy-resources/data-centre/publications-and-presentations/conference-papers or direct from the AEP Journal https://connectsci.au/ep/article/66/1/EP25110/272021/Understanding-exploration-success-and-failure-in
