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Welcome
to the APPEA edition of PESA News. This year the conference is being held
in Melbourne which, according to a survey by the London based Economist
Intelligence Unit, has been declared the near-perfect town! Out of a field
of 130 cities worldwide, Melbourne, along with Vancouver in Canada, was
rated the best city in the world to call home. As you could probably guess,
the weather prevented Melbourne from earning a perfect score! Perth ranked
third, which is fine by me because the fewer people who know that Perth
is really the best place to live, the better. Just out of interest, Papua
New Guinea's capital, Port Moresby, was rated the worst.
The
survey focused on 12 factors, including the threats of violent crime and
terrorism or armed conflict, health and disease, cultural hardship, recreational
opportunities, availability of consumer goods and services, level of corruption,
transport infrastructure, housing, education, utility networks and climate.
Actually,
the survey was based on expats' experiences so there could be some doubt
about its validity. I seem to recall during a previous period of employment
with a large American company, a conversation with a disgruntled expat
claiming that he should be paid a hardship allowance for living in Australia
- because there were no all-night supermarkets (at that stage) and he
couldn't find a drive-through dry-cleaner anywhere. Also, the chocolate
pieces in our chocolate chip cookies (sic) were sooo small!
Our
choc chips may be small, but this issue's articles are simply huge:
How
relevant is APPEA?
What better time to examine the role of APPEA in promoting the interests
of Australia's junior oil and gas exploration companies, which are facing
a unique set of problems and whose ranks have thinned to about 20 companies
over the past few years. This article reports the views of a number of
key 'small' players on the relevance to them of APPEA.
Voyage
Of Discovery
And talking of small, Voyager Energy, which debuted on the Australian
Stock Exchange in September 2001, has had a roller-coaster ride of successes
and failures as it has participated in the drilling of five wells in the
latest hot exploration area, offshore Perth basin. Read all about their
ups and downs, and plans for the future.
Be
Alert
The more astute amongst our readers would instantly have identified the
photo on the front cover, not as that of an Arab extremist, but of a local
citizen from the Saharawi Arab Democratic Republic, a former Spanish colony
in the western Sahara. In west African countries, political risk is a
major concern, and Saharawi is no different, with a dispute between the
government of Morocco and the Saharawi people which has been raging for
more than 25 years, could determine whether an Australian based oil and
gas company obtains access to frontier exploration opportunities off the
Western Sahara coast.
Risk
And Reward
At a time when Woodside has declared that Australia holds little interest
for them, in terms of prospectivity for oil and gas, it is heartening
to see that Santos is set to drill 26 exploration wildcats in 2003, as
part of a total expenditure of some $585 million on delineation, development
and fixed assets.
Gulliver's
Travels
If Gulliver Productions' Managing Director, Bevan Warris, gets his way,
the Point Torment gas field in the Canning Basin could soon be fuelling
a mini LNG plant and producing enough gas to power the west Kimberley
towns of Broome, Derby, Fitzroy Crossing, Halls Creek and Looma, as well
as a number of mine sites.
Victoria
Supplement
This issue also contains the annual Victorian Minerals & Petroleum
supplement with heaps of information on past and future activities in
this very active and prospective petroleum province.
No
Resurrection For JC
Finally, we bid goodbye to outgoing PESA Federal President, John Carmody
and welcome the new incumbent, Barry Goldstein. Good luck to both of you!
Adrian
Williams
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