I think this is the beginnings of an economy based on perpetual growth and fossil fuel energy running headlong into geological energy constraints. Basically I see an undulatory downward path for the rest of my life. From here out, I think any rallies in our economic condition are going to be met with spiking commodity prices that knock us right back down.
Search on for new oil fields
Jason Koutsoukis
February 24, 2008
MASSIVE oil and gas reserves lie undiscovered across Australia's vast sedimentary basins, the country's peak oil exploration body says.
A new report by the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association has concluded that only a quarter of Australia's oil and gas reserves have been explored.
[...]
"At present, just 17 per cent of Australia's offshore sedimentary basins and 26 per cent of potentially prospective onshore basins are covered by petroleum permits," Dr Powell said.
"There are more than 50 sedimentary basins in Australia, of which 12 are currently producing oil or gas and four have reserves deemed non- commercial."
[...]
"Given the maturity of Australia's oil producing areas, only the discovery of a substantial new oil province can arrest the decline in reserves and production," he said.
Dr Powell said the most likely oil rich areas included the Arafura Sea in northern Australia, the remote eastern frontier regions such as the Faust, Capel and Fairway basins of the Lord Howe Rise and the continental shelf area south of Tasmania, the South Tasman Rise.
Onshore, they include the lower Paleozoic basins of central Australia such as the Canning, Georgina, Warburton and Darling basins - which have geological similarities to oil-rich basins in North America - and the Gunnedah, Pedirka and Simpson basins.
Joined: Dec 28, 2005 Posts: 299 Location: Toronto, Ontario
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:11 pm Post subject: Re: Australia only 1/4 explored, says industry report
If this is the case then why would oil companies wait until so long after Australia's peak to explore these regions? I bet a lot of the regions actually have been explored to a certain extent, and that there wasn't more extensive exporation because no discoveries were made.
Oil-Finder, based on this article you must believe that Australia will again manage to ramp up production and exceed the peak it reach back about 6 years ago... I'd be willing to wager you a huge sum that Australia is past its peak.
Posted: Sat Feb 23, 2008 11:34 pm Post subject: Re: Australia only 1/4 explored, says industry report
^
Read the technical article, the author goes into great detail as to which sedimentary basins have been explored, and which ones have little known about them at all. He also does a pretty long explanation in a couple areas describing how some basins which seemed to have good potential turned out to be duds, and other ones which were overlooked at first turned out to be good prospects.
I have no idea if any of these potential prospects could revive Australian oil production. They might all turn out to be duds. But since there are several potential prospects about which little is known, maybe one or more of these could turn out to be big producers.
The Federal Government invited bids for 35 oil and gas exploration permits in five petroleum basins off the northwest and southwest coasts as it seeks to address a rising deficit in crude-oil supply.
The auction includes seven licenses in regions designated as frontier areas where exploration attracts a tax incentive because of the higher risk, Resources and Energy Minister Martin Ferguson said today in a statement released at the Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association conference in Perth.
[...]
The permits in the 2008 auction are located in the Bonaparte, Browse and Carnarvon Basins off the northwest coast and in the Perth Basin off the southwest. Bids for 17 of the permits close on October 9, with the remaining 18 areas closing on April 9, 2009.
[...]
Separately, the South Australian government invited bids for three new onshore oil and gas exploration permits in the Otway Basin.
''Otway Basin is regarded as the second-most prospective basin in South Australia after the Cooper Basin, Australia's largest onshore oil and gas producer,'' Paul Holloway, South Australia's minister for mineral resources development, said in a statement distributed at the conference.
In a landmark judgement by a United Nations commission, Australia expanded its borders by almost 35%, or 2.5 million square kilometres, including a seabed thought to harbour fossil fuels and minerals.
"I am pleased to announce that Australia, the largest island in the world, has just been dramatically increased in size," Resources Minister Martin Ferguson said yesterday.
EDIT: Here's a map showing where the territorial expansions occurred. They're the purple areas.
MAP _________________ Abundance - what a concept!
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 9:28 pm Post subject: Re: Australia only 1/4 explored, says industry report
Quote:
MASSIVE oil and gas reserves lie undiscovered across Australia's vast sedimentary basins, the country's peak oil exploration body says
The problem with statements like this is: what is meant by "massive"?
During the ANWR discussion, we were told that there were 8-15 billion barrels of recoverable oil. Sounds like a lot until you do the math. Take a middle amount of 12B barrels. The USA currently imports about 14M barrels per day. So ANWR is 2.35 years free from imported oil, assuming all other factors remain the same.
Posted: Mon Apr 21, 2008 11:12 pm Post subject: Re: Australia only 1/4 explored, says industry report
montysano wrote:
So ANWR is 2.35 years free from imported oil, assuming all other factors remain the same.
That would be a stretch in the face of significant cuts in consumption the last time oil was as high as it is now, with what looks to be a similar pattern this time around. _________________
Empire Energy Corporation International said that a recently updated analysis of seismic and geophysical data gathered last year by Solo Geophysics (gravity), Terrex Seismic and Empire's wholly owned subsidiary, Great South Land Minerals Ltd. (GSLM), indicates that Empire's Tasmania Basin wells may have significantly higher commercial value than previously announced.
According to the ongoing Monte Carlo modeling of the growing volume of data on part of the Tasmanian basin, Empire's Bellevue and Interlaken well sites may have undiscovered prospective petroleum resources (P50) of 665 million barrels, an estimate four to ten times the initial estimates of prospective petroleum resources for these wells announced in a May 6 research report published by Beacon Equity Research.
Monte Carlo modeling of the Bellevue structure alone suggests the well could contain between 283 million barrels (P90) and 1.26 billion barrels (P10) of undiscovered prospective petroleum resources.
Empire's first 14 wells may hold undiscovered prospective petroleum resources of between 535 million barrels (P90) and 2.29 billion barrels (P10) of undiscovered petroleum resources, according to the modeling.
[...]
I'll be sure to keep y'all updated when they drill. _________________ Abundance - what a concept!
Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 1648 Location: Springsteen Country (NJ)
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:36 pm Post subject: Re: Australia only 1/4 explored, says industry report
You remind me of the knife I use to scrape the last bit out of the peanut butter jar.
You realize that's what you're doing, right? _________________ Joe P. United Political Debate
"Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Proverb
Oil production could peak soon, or maybe it has already peaked. Nuclear energy might never scale up, solar power could have difficulty replacing fossil fuels and tar sands might never produce lots of oil.
Another hypocritical peaker accusing me of posting projections when that is all they do themselves. _________________ Abundance - what a concept!
Joined: Apr 05, 2005 Posts: 1648 Location: Springsteen Country (NJ)
Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:34 pm Post subject: Re: Australia only 1/4 explored, says industry report
OilFinder2 wrote:
joewp wrote:
You remind me of the knife I use to scrape the last bit out of the peanut butter jar.
You realize that's what you're doing, right?
How do you know? What if they find another Ghawar somewhere in one of these unexplored basins?
Yeah, and Big Brown could still win the Triple Crown.
What odds do you think that oil prospectors missed another Ghawar in the last 50 years?
And even if there is another Ghawar out there, 5mb/d isn't going to make all that much difference in the long run. _________________ Joe P. United Political Debate
"Only when the last tree is cut; only when the last river is polluted; only when the last fish is caught; only then will they realize that you cannot eat money." - Cree Indian Proverb
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