A number of drilling campaigns continue to expand on the oil and gas plays on the North West Shelf of Australia.
Location of Shell’s Bratwurst-1 well in Block AC/ P64.
A number of drilling campaigns continue to expand on the oil and gas plays on the North West Shelf of Australia. After the excitement around the Dorado oil discovery in late 2018 in the Canning Basin, focus has returned to the deeper water Carnarvon, Browse and Bonaparte Basins, where the majors need to prove up large gas reserves to support the burgeoning LNG export industry.
Shell announced in December the successful drilling of Bratwurst-1 in Block AC/P64. The well is understood to have targeted Lower Jurassic play (Plover) and Upper Triassic (Nome) clastics in the Browse Basin. Although it took 78 days to drill, Shell completed the work within 12 months of the award, testament to their demand for gas, which is now a core component of the supermajor’s new energy mix and low carbon credentials. This campaign reflects a global shift to enriching the gas mix, with Bratwurst and other targets nearby lined up for tie-back to Prelude. This floating LNG project, which started exporting in 2019, is the largest of its kind and very much in the vanguard for the next generation of global offshore gas development projects for the industry.
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Further Reading on Oil and Gas Activity in Australia
Exploration Update: Largest Gas Discovery in Australia in Ten Years
GEO ExPro
Independent oil and gas producers, Santos, announced a recent gas discovery in the Carnavron Basin – which is thought to be the largest hydrocarbon find offshore Australia in ten years.
This article appeared in Vol. 16, No. 3 – 2019
Depth Reprocessing Rejuvenates Exploration in the Gippsland Basin
Peter Baillie, Paul Carter, Jarrad Grahame, Joe Zhou and Nigel Mudge, CGG
CGG’s ReGeneration project overcomes the seismic imaging challenges of the Gippsland Basin, revealing new hydrocarbon exploration potential for the region of south-east Australia.
This article appeared in Vol. 16, No. 1 – 2019
Hydrocarbon Prospectivity of the Offshore Canning Area in Western Australia
Said Amiribesheli, Discover Geoscience Pty Ltd; Andrew Weller, Searcher Seismic Pty Ltd
Recent petroleum discoveries, including the Dorado-1 well, in the Bedout Sub-Basin indicate a promising future for the hydrocarbon prospectivity of offshore Western Australia.
This article appeared in Vol. 15, No. 6 – 2018
New Oil Play Excites Australia
David Upton
Apache announced on 18 August that its shallow water Phoenix South-1 exploration well in permit WA-435-P, 180 km north of Port Hedland, had intersected at least four discrete oil columns ranging in thickness between 26m and 46m. It made a preliminary estimate of 300 MMbo in place.
This article appeared in Vol. 11, No. 4 – 2015
New Insights into the Browse Basin
Anand Tripathi and Rob McArdle, Petroleum Geo-Services
Despite recent drilling success, the Browse Basin remains relatively underexplored, and imaging and mapping of the deeper horizons presents challenges to conventional seismic.
This article appeared in Vol. 9, No. 4 – 2012
