2011 PESA industry review: exploration

2012 ◽  
Vol 52 (1) ◽  
pp. 67
Author(s):  
Phillip Cooney
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Regional Differences ◽  
High Rate ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Geothermal Resources ◽  
Petroleum Wells ◽  
Liquid Natural Gas ◽  
Rate Of Success ◽  
Exploration Activity ◽  
Cooper Basin

A continuing high and stable oil price through the latter part of 2011, oscillating around US$120 in the case of Tapis Crude, underpinned a small increase in exploration in 2011 in Australia compared with 2010, although there were marked regional differences between the northwest and southeast parts of the country. Exploration continued to be focused on the northwest offshore seeking incremental reserve additions of conventional gas to support planned and proposed liquid natural gas (LNG) projects and although information is hard to confirm, in general this program appears to have been successful with a number of relatively smaller discoveries and at least one major find, Zola–1. In the Cooper Basin exploration activity resumed after almost being shut down by floods in 2010, although flooding continued to be a problem in 2011. In the South Australian part, 27 new field wildcat (NFW) wells were drilled in 2011 compared with 8 in 2010. The program was also marked by a high rate of success. The other current major area of activity, the Queensland coal seam gas (CSG) program was also affected by flooding early in 2011 with 524 coal seam gas (CSG) wells drilled this year, compared with 648 in 2010 and more than 900 in 2009. In many jurisdictions shale gas or shale oil wells are not reported separately and are included in conventional petroleum wells in this report. Exploration for geothermal resources continued at a relatively low level with only 10 wells drilled in Australia in 2011, the most active state was Victoria with five wells. Despite the increase in activity, preliminary indications are that total exploration expenditure in 2011 will be less than in 2010. It is interesting to note that while the exploration effort in terms of wells and seismic has not changed much in the last few years the total expenditure has steadily increased in part reflecting the movement into deeper water drilling.

THE WALLOON COAL MEASURES—THE NEXT COAL SEAM GASTARGET?

2000 ◽  
Vol 40 (1) ◽  
pp. 86
Author(s):  
S.G. Scott ◽  
P. Crosdale
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Vitrinite Reflectance ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Gas Content ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Gas Industry ◽  
Permian Coal ◽  
Petroleum Wells ◽  
The Individual ◽  
Coal Measures

The Queensland coal seam gas industry has grown over the last 12 years. During this time the vast majority of exploration wells have targeted the Late Permian coal measures in the Bowen and Galilee Basins. These formations have been the major target because they contain coals with a vitrinite reflectance ranging above 0.7%. This range has always been seen as the main period for methane generation.As well as containing vast quantities of Permian coal, Queensland also has vast quantities of Middle Jurassic coals within its Mesozoic Basins. These coals have received little-to-no exploration for their coal seam gas potential as they have always been interpreted as being immature for gas generation.Over 550 petroleum exploration wells drilled in the Mesozoic Surat Basin of eastern Queensland were reviewed to determine the coal volume of the intersected Walloon Coal Measures. A significant number have intersected large volumes of sub-bituminous to high volatile bituminous coals, in seams ranging up to 11.7 m in thickness. While the individual seams are not laterally persistent, the coal packages can be traced over hundreds of kilometres of the eastern Surat Basin.While only one well has tested the gas content, gas quality and saturation of the Walloon Coal Measures, numerous water bores have reported gas flows from the zone, and petroleum wells intersecting the formation have recorded high mud gas readings during drilling.The relatively shallow depth of the unit over much of the basin, the thickness of the coal packages, the proximity to major gas trunk pipelines and markets make the Walloon Coal Measures an ideal target for the next generation of coal seam gas explorers.

Utilising current technologies to understand permeability, stress azimuths and magnitudes and their impact on hydraulic fracturing success

2010 ◽  
Vol 50 (2) ◽  
pp. 736 ◽  
Author(s):  
Raymond Johnson ◽  
Brent Glassborow ◽  
Jeremy Meyer ◽  
Michael Scott ◽  
Ashish Datey ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Hydraulic Fracturing ◽  
Limited Area ◽  
Supporting Evidence ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Structural Setting ◽  
Data Process ◽  
Petroleum Wells ◽  
Well Data ◽  
Sonic Logging

In coal seam gas exploration and appraisal, stress and permeability are often inter-related and play a large role in deliverability, particularly affecting hydraulic fracturing effectiveness. Generally, the structural setting for a coal seam gas (CSG) play can be defined by indirect data such as petroleum wells, core wells, or seismic data; however, the viability of a structure to be highly conducive to CSG development also requires direct measurements to fully define the effects associated with this interdependency of stress and permeability. Unfortunately, this interdependency may not be as apparent during the exploration phase as within the planning, execution and evaluation of a hydraulic fracturing program. We will present data from a limited area of the Surat Basin, in the Walloon coal measures, where initial regional and well data were available to allow drilling to evaluate a small, localised, structural setting for CSG development. While some permeability data were encouraging in the initial program, subsequent drilling indicated that permeability might become variable across this structure. Thus, further investigations were made and included novel, cross-dipole sonic logging in combination with acoustic and more advanced resistivity imaging logs. These data indicated that the stress and permeability azimuths may be aligned to take advantage of hydraulic fracturing. Thus, a hydraulic fracturing program was initiated in this area incorporating diagnostics to understand the potential benefit of this technology. The results of this program, while localised, do indicate that a potential pitfall can exist in some environments where the stress magnitudes along with stress and dominant permeability axes are not ideally positioned to take advantage of hydraulic fracturing. We will show how the data in this case were acquired, evaluated and integrated to support the overall understanding and interpretation of the results. Due to space constraints, this paper focusses primarily on the overall data process and is unable to elaborate fully on all diagnostics used and the fullness of their determinations; however, adequate supporting evidence is supplied in order to illustrate the problems in executing and achieving effective stimulation in similar structural settings.

2008 Production and development highlights

2009 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 541
Author(s):  
Wal Muir
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Global Financial Crisis ◽  
Gas Production ◽  
Medium Term ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
The Global Financial Crisis ◽  
The Impact ◽  
First Time ◽  
Cooper Basin ◽  
Carnarvon Basin

Australian petroleum production reached record levels during 2008 due mainly to continued growth in gas production, particularly from coal seam gas in Queensland. Coal seam gas (CSG) has provided a major fillip to gas production in the east of the country, with four LNG projects slated for Curtin Island off Gladstone, and the Surat/Bowen Basin supplanting the Cooper Basin in gas production for the first time. Three new projects were brought on stream in the Carnarvon Basin, offsetting the projected natural decline of oil production in that basin. The pipeline of committed and planned projects continues to rise, with a number of major projects in the Carnarvon Basin moving closer to fruition and the Browse Basin likely to join the Carnarvon as a major LNG producer in the medium term. The impact of the global financial crisis, with a large number of countries which take Australia’s energy production in recession, is still being assessed. It appears that there may be a softening in costs, although the trends were not yet clear at year’s end.

The changing face of Queensland's petroleum industry

2011 ◽  
Vol 51 (1) ◽  
pp. 225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alison Troup ◽  
Peter Green
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Petroleum Industry ◽  
Petroleum Exploration ◽  
Success Rates ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Petroleum Wells ◽  
Well Data ◽  
Coal Measures ◽  
Exploration Well

The cycles and related changes in exploration targets identified in this study show the evolution of the Queensland petroleum industry from conventional petroleum to coal seam gas dominance. Delineation of these cycles was undertaken using petroleum exploration well data, and production and reserves statistics. Although the cycles are defined on the basis of exploration activity, there is a very different history in the types of targets and commodities explored for in the Bowen-Surat and Cooper-Eromanga basins. Trends in exploration success have been influenced by technology improvements, better understanding of target reservoirs, proximity to infrastructure, government policy and world oil prices. Four distinct exploration cycles have been identified from the data. During the first cycle (1959–74) exploration focused predominantly on the shallower Jurassic-aged reservoirs in the Bowen-Surat basins resulting in the discovery of most of the major conventional oil and gas fields. The second cycle (1979–89) saw exploration begin in earnest in the Cooper-Eromanga basins and a switch to predominantly Triassic-aged reservoirs in the Bowen-Surat basins. The first coal seam gas exploration wells were drilled during this cycle. The third cycle (1990–99) shows a decrease in the number of conventional petroleum wells across both regions and the beginning of the switch to the present dominance of coal seam gas. The fourth cycle (2000–present) shows a significant decrease in the number of conventional exploration wells drilled across both regions, but an increase in the success rates. All conventional discoveries in the Bowen-Surat basins during cycle four have been in Permian-aged reservoirs, reflecting a change in the exploration focus to deeper parts of the Bowen Basin. Coal seam gas exploration has expanded significantly, with the Walloon Coal Measures being targeted, resulting in nearly four coal seam gas wells drilled for each conventional petroleum exploration well state-wide since 2000. Examination of coal seam gas exploration highlights the many false starts since the first well was drilled in 1980. Exploration has shifted from area to area as companies tested different exploration concepts and completion techniques. The most obvious shift has been from Permian-aged targets of the Bowen Basin into the Jurassic-aged Walloon Coal Measures in the Surat and Clarence-Moreton basins, as its prospectivity was realised.

Combined Energy Recovery from Coal Seam Gas Reservoirs and Geothermal Resources (Simulation Study)

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alireza Salmachi ◽  
Manouchehr Haghighi ◽  
David William Dixon ◽  
Peter James Hart ◽  
Ashley Michael Jachmann
Keyword(s):  
Coal Seam ◽  
Simulation Study ◽  
Energy Recovery ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
Gas Reservoirs ◽  
Geothermal Resources

Informal and Nonformal Adult Learning in the Coal Seam Gas Protests: Mobilizing Practices and Building an Environmental Justice Movement for Change

2021 ◽  
pp. 074171362110053
Author(s):  
Tracey Ollis
Keyword(s):  
Adult Learning ◽  
Coal Seam ◽  
Environmental Justice ◽  
Water Supply ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
Coal Seam Gas ◽  
The Public ◽  
Theory Of Practice ◽  
The Earth

This case study research examines informal adult learning in the Lock the Gate Alliance, a campaign against mining for coal seam gas in Central Gippsland, Australia. In the field of the campaign, circumstantial activists learn to think critically about the environment, they learn informally and incidentally, through socialization with experienced activists from and through nonformal workshops provided by the Environmental Nongovernment Organization Friends of the Earth. This article uses Bourdieu’s “theory of practice,” to explore the mobilization of activists within the Lock the Gate Alliance field and the practices which generate knowledge and facilitate adult learning. These practices have enabled a diverse movement to educate the public and citizenry about the serious threat fracking poses to the environment, to their land and water supply. The movements successful practices have won a landmark moratorium on fracking for coal seam gas in the State of Victoria.

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