The PESA SA Branch held a Cooper Basin Forum at the Australian Mineral Foundation on March 25th as part of their lunchtime seminar program. The event featured four 15 minute presentations by the four major operators in the Cooper Basin, followed by a BBQ lunch on the lawns adjoining the facility.

Santos’s Exploration Manager Central Business Unit, John Chambers, outlined the company’s aggressive multi-focus Cooper Basin oil and gas exploration program for 2004-2005. He also detailed the recent success of the Reg Sprigg-3 appraisal well and other oil successes in 2003 with the Pelican-11 and Merrimelia-43 wells. Santos intends to increase production from existing fields through infill drilling and EOR techniques as well as to focus on new opportunities with better seismic definition.

Neil Gibbins, Chief Geophysicist at Beach Petroleum, presented recent exploration and development programs in the South Australian and Queensland sectors of the Cooper/Eromanga basins. He reported on the third oil discovery made by Beach Petroleum in the South Australian sector, Christies-1, and gave an overview of the proposed 2004 seismic and drilling program: Seven wildcat exploration wells, three Christies/Sellicks appraisal wells, and two appraisal wells at the newly acquired Bodalla South and Kenmore oilfields in Queensland.
Exploration Manager of Stuart Petroleum, Bob Frears, illustrated that the turn-over of exploration acreage can result in new discoveries by outlining the Worrier-1 oil and gas discovery which is situated amongst five dry exploration holes drilled between 1966-2002. Worrier-1 was drilled in September/October 2003 and tested oil in the McKinlay Member, Birkhead Formation and Hutton Formation, as well as gas in the Patchawarra Formation. Estimated recoverable oil is 3.1 MMbbl on a proven plus probable basis.

Finally, Ross Wecker, Managing Director of Innamincka Petroleum, presented the results of their recent exploration activities in PEL 103 and described the company’s future exploration and development plans.

The forum was well attended by nearly 140 members indicating the strong interest of the independents exploring the Cooper Basin. Stories of exploration success and optimistic development plans generated plenty of encouragement for Cooper Basin exploration. Attendees made the most of the sunny outdoor setting for the luncheon after the presentations for plenty of discussion. PESA SA branch thanks Beach Petroleum for sponsoring this successful event.