August 2006
  • Santos finds oil at Minni Richi-1 in Eromanga Basin of southwest Queensland.
  • Nexus Energy’s Long Tom-3 sidetrack confirms gas in four separate reservoir intervals in offshore Gippsland Basin f Victoria.
  • Apache Enrgy finds oil and gas in Theo-1 wildcat in offshore Carnarvon Basin of Western Australia which may be an extension of Woodside’s Vincent field in the adjoining permit.
  • Metgasc’s Middle Creek-1 coal bed methane well extends the Walloon Coal Measures seam 15km southwest of its South Casino field adding 150 sq km to the area available for potential development.
  • Nexus finalises $40 million agreement to sell 100% of its rights to the gas in its Crux field in the Browse Basin of Western Australia to Shell Development Australia.
  • Apache/Santos partnership tests gas/condensate at its Gnu-1 exploration/appraisal of the Reindeer/Caribou field in the offshore Carnarvon Basin of Western Australia.
  • Federal Government outlines an eight-year S1.6 billion multi-pronged program to help reduce Australia’s reliance on oil imports, including a further $76 million towards offshore frontier exploration via Geoscience Australia’s pre-competitive seismic programs.
  • AGL and Petronas scale back FEED studies into the PNG-Australia gas pipeline’s Australian leg which may delay the start of construction.
  • Woodside awards a total of $192 million worth of FEED contracts for its proposed Pluto NG project to WorleyParsons/Foster Wheele for onshore plant and to WorleyParsons/Kellogg-Brown & Root for the offshore facilities.
  • Independent valuer Gaffney Cline & Assoc. upgrades oil reserves in Anzon/Beach Petroleum’s Basker-Manta fields in the offshore Gippsland Basin of Victoria by 33% to 40 million barrels recoverable.
  • Santos confirms a northeast extension of the Derrilyn oil field in the Eromanga Basin of South Australia.
  • Epic Energy begins a $400,000, six-month FEED study on construction of a 180km Ballera-Moomba gas pipeline interconnect that could link Queensland coal bed methane with southeast Australian gas markets. The line is planned to come on stream in 2008.
  • APPEA launches a new web-based Safety & Environment Alert System to enhance the rapid spread of practical safety-related information to the hydrocarbons industry and other sectors.
  • Coal bed methane companies Eastern Star Gas and Hillgrove Resources combine interests in the Gunnedah Basin Gas Project to create a major entity in the New South Wales gas business.
  • Oil Search signs MoU with BG International of the UK to investigate a proposed LNG development in PNG.
  • Chevron announces plans to establish an energy technology centre in Perth to prvide research, development and technical services for the company’s world-wide operations.