March 2006
  • Santos group makes now oil pool discovery with derrilyn-3 weel in South Australian Cooper/Eromanga Basin.
  • First Indian companies to enter Australian exploration permits (Videcon Industries & Gujarat State Petroleum) farm into Oilex permit EPP27 in offshore Otway basin of South Australia.
  • Great Artesian Oil & Gas group’s Smegsy-1 gas discovery comes on stream in Cooper Basin of South Australia.
  • AED Oil signs FPSO agreement with Norwegian shipping company Frontline to produce oil from Puffin field in Timor Sea as development plan is approved by Federal Government.
  • Beach Petroleum group tests a strong gas/condensate flow in its Middleton-1 wildcat in the South Australian Cooper Basin.
  • Sydney Gas upgrades 2P Camden coal seam methane reserves in Sydney Basin of NSW by 30% to 82.8 petajoules.
  • Federal Government writes new legislation to make all gas and other energy sources imported into Australia via pipelines subject to GST. This will affect PNG –Qld gas project.
  • North West Shelf JV will supply 1.2-1.4 million tonnes of LNG per year to Chugoku Electric Power of Japan under a new 12-year contract beginning 2009 following expiry of original 1985 sales contract.
  • Australian and East Timor Governments finalise petroleum mining code and model PSC for the Joint petroleum Development Area in Timor Gap.
  • Federal Government and APPEA launch strategic plan to boost Australian indigenous oil production, increase domestic gas usage and increase LNG exports.
  • Oilex group’s Donga-3 oil discovery comes on stream in Surat Basin of Queensland.
  • Lakes Oil finds oil and confirms gas in tight sands in Loy Yang-2 well Tight Gas Project in onshore Gippsland basin of Victoria.
  • Woodside Energy signs a Heads of Agreement with Kansai Electric Power of Japan for supply of 1.75-2 million tonnes of LNG per year over 15 years from proposed Pluto Project on North West Shelf.
  • Santos and Magellan Petroleum sign Heads of Agreement with Northern Territory Government’s Power and Water Corporation to supply an additional 5.2 petajoules of gas from Mereenie/Palm Valley fields till December 2008.
  • Coogee Resources group finds oil in its Swift North-1 wildcat in the Ashore Cartier sector of the Timor Sea.
  • Woodside gives go-ahead for the $1 billion, 73 million barrel Vincent oil field development in the Carnarvon Basin offshore Western Australia. First oil is scheduled for 2008.
  • Oil Search group’s South East Mananda oil field in the PNG Highlands comes on stream via the Kutubu treatment facilities.