--> 50 Years of Carnarvon Basin

International Conference & Exhibition

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50 Years of Carnarvon Basin

Abstract

Just over 60 years ago Australia's first flowing oil discovery was made by West Australian Petroleum (WAPET) at Rough Range in the Carnarvon basin. Since that first discovery the Carnarvon Basin has grown to be a prolific oil and gas province with around 250 discovered fields and over 2,500 exploration and development wells. Early discoveries proved difficult, as after Rough Range it took another 10 years for the next significant oil discovery at Barrow Island-1 in 1964. Despite these early indications of onshore oil, the biggest discoveries of the Carnarvon basin would turn out to be gas, and offshore. In the 1960s a large area of the North West Shelf was granted to Woodside to explore; and in the early 1970s a series of significant gas discoveries were made at North Rankin, Goodwyn, Angel, Gorgon, and further out on the Exmouth Plateau at Scarborough in 1979. Development of these giant gas fields has supplied domestic gas to the West Australian population, and helped Australia to become major supplier of LNG to world markets. The past 50 years of exploration in the Carnarvon Basin is a story of new ideas and new technologies. Over these decades industry has continually tested the conventional wisdom about the future prospectivity of the Carnarvon Basin, drilling in deeper water, testing new plays and new ideas, and drilling deeper targets. The continual success of these new ideas and innovative new technology looks set to continue the productivity and prospectivity of this prolific basin.