bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Gas price reviews in long-term contracts—past, present, and future
Authors: Langford Craig
Published: August 2017

Price reviews in long-term gas contracts have been part of the commercial landscape in the Australian gas market. Any industry senior executive who has been heavily involved in a gas price review, in particular a review involving a gas arbitration, usually asks themselves at the end of the process if a better way exists. How can gas price reviews be improved is the basis of this extended abstract. Analysis of the past, present and future gas price reviews assists this objective. The past considers the historical nature and the commercial philosophy of price reviews addresses questions such as:

Why do we need them?
What price is a price review trying to establish?
What is a market price in the Australian gas market context?
Do price reviews determine present or future prices ?
The present considers current price reviews, covering topics such as what’s good and bad practice in today’s price reviews, including the arbitration process. The future looks issues such as the role and importance of price reviews in the next 10 years, what’s needed to make gas price reviews obsolete, how do price reviews work in a transitional market with both Australian and US oil-linked-contract prices under review and better commercial and legal concepts for future price reviews.
The future of carbon—direct action or ETS lite?
Authors: Warburton Allison
Published: August 2017

The future of carbon policy in Australia is still unclear, despite a change of government at the 2013 federal election. The Coalition Government is committed to repealing the existing carbon tax and replacing it with an incentive scheme to fund emissions-reduction projects under the banner of direct action. They may not, however, be able to get their legislative proposals for the repeal through the senate until mid-2014 or later. By the time of the APPEA Conference and Exhibition in 2014, businesses may have greater certainty on carbon policy than they have had for some time; however, this is unlikely. This extended abstract examines and reviews:

the key carbon policy measures and carbon pricing mechanisms at the federal level;
the key issues for the gas sector for 2014–15 if the carbon tax still exists;
the operation of the coalition’s direct action plan and its implications and opportunities for the gas sector; and,
other countries’ plans and actions in relation to carbon, as relevant to an increasingly international gas market.
Local content commitment and the link with indigenous economic development: a case study
Authors: Villa Michele
Published: August 2017

This extended abstract discusses local content opportunities in economic development for the Aboriginal community. Local content requirements have become a strategic community development consideration during the past few years. This abstract links the topics of local content commitments and indigenous economic development via leveraging relationships with indigenous contractors in Australia. The creation of indigenous businesses that strive to succeed in the market and compete with non-indigenous companies is key in developing sustainable working opportunities for indigenous Australians. Many oil and gas players have publicly committed to contribute to indigenous business participation offering contractual opportunities and designing capacity-building programs and initiatives. The market for indigenous contractors services is, therefore, rapidly growing and presents considerable opportunities for existing and new players providing services to the resources industry in Australia. The specific demand is driven by corporate social responsibility policies and by the limited capacity of suppliers to deliver what is required by large new and expansion projects in the resource (both mining/oil and gas) sectors in Australia to maintain their social licence to operate. We present the results of a survey about policies and practices of some of the leading oil and gas operators in Australia, highlighting best practices in indigenous business engagement. We also analyse (from interviews with indigenous enterprises) barriers and issues encountered so far in indigenous contracting. International examples about the impact that indigenous enterprises can have on local community social and economic development complement the survey. Note: the term indigenous as used in this extended abstract refers to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
An industry-led skills agenda
Authors: Doig David
Published: August 2017

The Australian hydrocarbon industry is dynamic in its existing and planned growth. The need for a sustainable, highly skilled, safe, and work-ready workforce is critical to the success of the industry for now and the future. Every nation blessed with hydrocarbon resources should view its hydrocarbon industry as a national treasure to be nurtured for the benefit and prosperity of the nation and its people through maximising it’s in-country value. While there are many strands to creating sustainable in-country value, at the core of any sustainability is the skills development of the workforce. Improving the volume of local products and services is critical to creating lasting in-country value and this will only be achieved by the supply of a skilled, qualified, and competent workforce from a world-class learning infrastructure. Such an infrastructure must be created in full alignment with an industry led skills agenda aligned to business needs, integrated with education and training providers, supported by government and the education system, and managed by a focused independent industry skills body. This extended abstract describes a model for creating such a national skills infrastructure. It shows how this work will be led and owned by the collective industry as they will set the skills agenda and the priorities. Finally it identifies the benefits for business, for employees, and for the nation itself as hydrocarbon resources are nurtured for the long-term prosperity of all.
The people side of process safety
Authors: Bowen Mathew
Published: August 2017

During the past decade, the oil and gas industry has experienced frequent disasters. As evidenced by the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil well disaster, safety excellence is yet to be achieved. In response to these events, various investigations have led to the publication of recommendations, both for the involved parties and for the wider industry. A key recommendation from the Texas City Refinery disaster highlighted the need to distinguish carefully between process safety and personal safety, and to manage these two types of safety differently (Hopkins, 2011). While it is acknowledged that personal safety systems are far from the silver bullet for managing risk, from the events of the past decade, it is clear that processes and systems are only as good as the people who run them and that there is a need to integrate person and process based safety approaches. We need to consider how the person component interacts with the processes for safety and the ultimate role that individuals and groups within organisations play in the success of our safety interventions. If a process safety initiative is conceptualised similarly to other organisational interventions, people play a significant role in determining the success of a process safety initiative. To illustrate this concept, this presentation demonstrates how applying key concepts from the disciplines of organisational psychology (e.g. change management), social psychology (e.g. team dynamics), and cognitive psychology (e.g. thinking patterns and habits) can make process safety initiatives more effective.
Reimagining Australia's shale gas revolution: lessons at home and abroad
Authors: Knight Lizzie , Bell Louise
Published: August 2017

In Australia the shale gas debate has been polarised between those extolling its virtues with unchecked enthusiasm on one side and deep wariness on the other. How can we re-imagine Australia’s energy future and what is the proper place for shale gas? With 396 trillion cubic feet of potential shale gas reserves (CSIRO, 2012), Australia stands on a precipice of a golden age of gas, but only if those reserves can be developed profitably and with a higher level of community support and understanding. The development of a shale gas industry is likely to transform the nation’s domestic gas and export LNG markets, increase energy security, and bolster the Australian economy. Community concern and infrastructure constraints, however, stand as barriers to the realisation of the industry. The US is one of the few countries to have developed shale gas to a commercial scale. Facilitative government policies, extensive infrastructure networks, open-access policies, a favourable regulatory framework, a highly competitive industry, and a strong R&D focus have allowed the shale gas industry to flourish. Meanwhile, the nascent Australian unconventional gas industry grapples with community support, regulatory duplication and delays, conflicts about competing resources, productivity decline, and rising capital and labour costs. The development of major CSG to LNG export projects in Queensland will promote competition for gas between domestic and international customers. The eastern Australia domestic gas market will no longer be insulated from the world gas market and the domestic gas price is likely to rise to meet international prices. A shale gas industry in Australia could provide part of the solution to future domestic gas shortages and price hikes. To develop an Australian shale gas industry, however, proponents will require a social licence to operate and access to infrastructure. Government and industry need to act now to implement a coordinated strategy that will enable proponents to secure and maintain their social licence and obtain adequate access to infrastructure. While the existing Australian unconventional gas industry and overseas shale gas experiences are defined by a specific set of circumstances and differ from the Australian shale gas experience in a number of important respects, lessons from shale gas projects abroad is paramount to shaping a mature debate and ensuring this potential opportunity is realised.
Floating and float-in LNG solutions for Australian and international locations
Authors: Haggerty Brian , Hoffmann Mark
Published: August 2017

The costs of LNG projects have increased worldwide. FLNG and float-in near-shore facilities reduce the total amount of infrastructure required for an offshore gas field development. Woodside has developed a range of FLNG and float-in/near-shore facility concepts. In the process key lessons from more than a dozen potential applications were obtained. The optimisation of process efficiency and availability versus operability and maintainability ends up in a different balance to onshore LNG or FPSO. Knowledge of LNG and FPSO operations and maintenance is required to design FLNG.

Quantitative risk assessment (QRA) does not fully define the safety of the facilities. The application of proven philosophies, simplicity, and management of concurrent operations drives inherent safety.
The choice of refrigerants for the liquefaction process on an offshore facility is not straightforward (e.g. nitrogen does not necessarily offer as big a safety advantage as often assumed).
The design-one-build-many strategy can offer significant advantages if a number of similar facilities can be sanctioned in quick succession; however, this is not generally available and a bespoke solution will generally be optimum.
Concrete near-shore facilities have superior durability and potentially lower maintenance but require significant pre-FID decisions and investment for graving docks, etc.
FLNG offers greater certainty of execution outcome because of the fabrication and construction in the controlled shipyard environment; however, experience and management processes are required to manage the novelty aspects.
Earlier contracting and execution decisions are required for floating LNG than for onshore LNG or standard FPSOs.
CSG water: the challenge of upstream interfaces—well to beneficial use
Authors: Page Steven , Ly Lyvonne , Edge Ryan , Campbell Scott , Dowling Dominic
Published: August 2017

In its journey from well to beneficial use, CSG-produced water passes through multiple systems and processes. Understanding and managing these inter- and intra-system interfaces is vital to a successful outcome for capital and operating costs, water quality, brine management, and overall asset integrity. This extended abstract discusses a number of case studies and outcomes as described below.
Optimising the gathering system—wells and trunk lines

Whole lifecycle-downhole pressure operating costs (OPEX) versus gathering line size capital costs (CAPEX)
Pipe size standardisation: trunk line OPEX versus trunk line size/cost; pressure versus materials
Reliability and availability—node-to-node system analysis, influence, and conjunctive use
Optimum network architecture and water treatment facility (WTF) location

WTFs and water storages—protecting the core

What’s in the water—water blending, pipeline corrosion management, and well/drilling products
Reliability and maintenance: bigger WTF and water storages versus spares strategy and reliability management
Manage inter plant streams—recovery costs less that waste management

Treated water end use and brine management—a product people want

Know your end user—getting it right early is a win for everyone
Guidelines, regulation, and best practice—a potentially volatile mix?
Optimising the number and location of WTFs based on end use—value versus risk
Brine—commodity versus waste management; an understanding of the product, market, and risks is vital
Financing alternatives in a changing gas landscape
Authors: MacGinley James , Calleja Brad
Published: August 2017

In recent years, Australia has gone through an unprecedented expansion in its oil and gas industry. The demand for capital has been enormous and has resulted in some of the largest project debt financings globally. In the coming years, the funding requirement will change dramatically as projects reach completion; become cash-flow positive; and, owners changing their funding structure from project finance debt to lower cost, lower covenant corporate debt. The development of a number of Australia’s largest oil and gas projects during the past five years coincided with a tightening of capital from the traditional project finance market. This lead to the emergence of export credit agency financing as an integral component of project development. During the past year, however, re-capitalisation of global banks are now re-entering the Australian market and are driving competition and increasing liquidity. This extended abstract covers a review of the funding approaches taken on major Australian LNG projects, including lessons from the funding of CSG projects that may be relevant to other new development markets such as shale gas. It also draws on historical lessons of funding new technologies and provide insight about funding of the next wave of LNG development: floating LNG. The National Australia Bank is one of the largest resources project finance banks globally and is well positioned to provide APPEA’s delegates with relevant insight about the future of debt funding in the oil and gas industry.
Addressing the productivity challenge using a build, own, operate, maintain (BOOM) contracting model
Authors: Bird Geoff , Radici Rob
Published: August 2017

Poor productivity is one of the major challenges facing the oil and gas industry in Australia. This is evidenced by significant cost and schedule overruns on every major LNG development during the recent Australian LNG construction boom. In a world where gas is a global commodity that can be easily exported, the consequences of poor productivity mean that investment dollars are directed overseas to lower risk environments to the detriment of resource development in Australia. This extended abstract explores the causes of poor productivity and it argues that one of the principle reasons is a fragmented contracting strategy, which results in the scope being split among different contractors at various phases of the project lifecycle, requiring complex and often inefficient interface management. This combined with little commercial incentive for contractors to minimise cost for the subsequent phase of the project means the responsibility falls with the operator to optimise costs during the project lifecycle. This extended abstract proposes that BOOM commercial model and contracting strategy is one way to address the productivity challenge. This model incentivises the contractor to engineer to reduce construction cost and to construct to minimise operational and maintenance costs by ensuring the contractor has a significant stake. This better aligns the commercial interests of the contractor and operator. This extended abstract also addresses the types of infrastructure development the model is best suited to and some of the critical success factors required to deliver a successful BOOM outcome.
Lower Paleozoic stratigraphy and petroleum potential of the Wallal Rift System, southwest Canning Basin, Western Australia
Authors: Alavi Norman , Bagas Leon , Purcell Peter , Kivior Irena , Brett John
Published: August 2017

The Wallal Rift System (new name) extends north-northwest for more than 300 km along the southwestern margin of the Canning Basin. The rift contains the Wallal and the Waukarlycarly embayments and the Samphire Graben. The rift segments vary in depth to 4.5 km and are all under-explored. Seismic coverage is better in the north than in the south. Six shallow wildcat and stratigraphic wells in the north provide some control on the age of the pre-Permian section. Another well on the northeastern flank of the Samphire Graben terminated in Neoproterozoic granitic rocks beneath the Lower Ordovician Nambeet Formation. The well is tied to a seismic line that indicates a synrift Ordovician section in the graben. An equivalent section is inferred in the Wallal and the Waukarlycarly embayments, and Permian syn-rift sediments are recognised in all rifts. Transtension along a regional geosuture—the Camel-Tabletop Fault Zone—may have caused initial rifting during the waning of the Paterson Orogeny (c. 550 Ma), co-incident with extrusion in the Kalkarindji Large Igneous Province. Thus, Cambrian volcano-clastics deposits may be present at the base of the (2–3 km thick) pre-Permian section, which is considered to be primarily Early Paleozoic sediments and expected to contain potential source rocks. A relatively hot Proterozoic crust and eruption of continental flood basalts during the Cambrian may have facilitated source rock maturation. Reservoirs may be more common along rift-margins and intra-rift ridges, where fault-controlled traps are also present.
Active flowline-heating technologies as alternative flow-assurance management techniques
Authors: Baker Peter
Published: August 2017

Most of the easy subsea oil and gas reserves have been discovered and are being developed. In the search for future reserves, subsea oil and gas developments are moving into deeper and colder water, often with longer tiebacks. Conventional techniques using chemicals may prove unviable to deliver technically and economically into these environments due to the volumes required and the supply-chain logistics involved. Other techniques such as depressurisation can be difficult to operate successfully for long flowlines in colder environments. This has driven the need for a new generation of economical, efficient, and easier-to-operate flow-assurance management techniques. To address these more challenging environments, a number of alternative flow-assurance management techniques have been developed and are now available to operators. One of these is known generically as Active Flowline Heating (AFH). Rather than using passive insulation, AFH technologies maintain production by heating the flowline wall and transferring the heat to the contents to keep them above hydrate or wax formation temperatures. This extended abstract looks at the status of a number of AFH technologies:

Open or wet direct electrical heating (open DEH)
Closed or dry direct electrical heating (closed DEH)
Electrically trace heated pipe in pipe (ETH PIP)
Integrated production bundles (IPBs)
Rigid pipe bundles

In the right circumstances, these technologies can provide economical, easy-to-operate, and reliable alternative flow-assurance management techniques. This presentation also addresses potential applications for these technologies in subsea oil and gas developments of the future.
Remotely operated vehicle (ROV) intervention technology allows early production from subsea wells
Authors: Branner Justin , Custer Ryan
Published: August 2017

Subsea fields, particularly in deepwater, continue to challenge the economics of development for operators. Production of subsea wells by tying into existing facilities and rig-less intervention solutions undertaken during the initial phases of the project are being used to drive better economic outcomes. A recent deepwater development in the Asia Pacific region used locally developed technology to bring subsea wells into production using an ROV with a custom pumping package to open the formation isolation valve (FIV). This operation on the first two wells was done in 2012 from a vessel and the remaining wells were brought online using the same technology during 2013. As the operator wanted to tie-in production from existing subsea wells to an FPSO in an adjacent field while the development specific facility was still being constructed, an ROV-based remote intervention skid was developed to open the FIV and also leave a negative pressure above the surface-controlled subsurface safety valve (SCSSV). The skid was interfaced with a multi-quick-connect plate to provide bi-directional pumping capability to cycle the ratcheting mechanism of the FIV. This methodology allowed the operation to be completed much faster and at a lower cost compared with the use of a rig and is highly beneficial in locations where subsea wells have been drilled and need to be fast tracked for production. The project was a significant success for the operator and has proven to be a breakthrough in remote intervention technology and custom tooling capabilities in the Asia Pacific region.
Early community engagement provides a strong foundation for developing trust—a case study
Authors: Stone Peter , Taylor Bruce
Published: August 2017

The early stages of onshore gas development involve real and perceived uncertainty, each stimulating community demand for information and engagement with decision makers in government and industry. In response to this demand, the Department of Mines and Petroleum, APPEA, and CSIRO jointly hosted a workshop in Dongara in October 2012. Its purpose was to inform government and industry about community expectations for information provision and community engagement. Insights were gained by asking participants five main questions:

What are your concerns and interests about onshore gas development?
What are the issues that are important to you?
How would you like to get information about issues of concern?
How and with whom would you like to engage to identify future needs?
What support would that require?
The community articulated its demand for more information about the concerns and interests identified; it also expressed a strong preference for information from sources without regulatory or industry development roles. A range of different methods for providing information were identified, including physical and digital material, as well as interactive workshops and experiential farm walks. Participants expressed their expectation of greater engagement with decision makers from industry and government, as this would enhance the capacity for relevant local knowledge to inform industry regulation and management. To best reach their target audiences, engagement methods and approaches should be tailored to meet the needs of different sectors of the community.
Measuring community dividends for oil and gas projects—an emerging approach
Authors: Woo Chi Mun
Published: August 2017

The development of Australia’s CSG resources brings into sharp focus the realities of achieving a social licence to operate. It often hinges on balancing strong stakeholder interests with hotly contested issues such as land access rights. A disciplined, stakeholder-centric approach for measuring shared value can demonstrate the merits of arrangements agreed between stakeholder groups and could ultimately form part of the solution to what will be one of the defining social licence to operate issues in Australia this decade. Resource companies are making substantial investments to earn, maintain, and enhance local and wider communities as part of establishing their social licences to operate. Understanding and measuring the value created by community investments (part of the wider investments made by companies through areas such as taxes, royalties, development, and employment) drives more transparent and effective outcomes for companies, communities, and other stakeholders.

While there is an expectation that community investments deliver value for money, this is difficult to demonstrate without measuring both financial and non-financial impacts.
Companies that can measure the value of their community investments can make better investment decisions for the benefit of all stakeholders.
Measuring the value of direct corporate investments in local communities draws on social evaluation and engagement methodologies as well as economic-valuation techniques.
Considerations include on-the-ground engagement, understanding perceptions of value, understanding the major contributors to value, and alignment with community sentiment.
With a knowledge of the value created by particular investments, companies can undertake an analysis to help optimise future investments.
There are measurement challenges in this process; however, measuring value can bring about profound insights that strengthen company and community relations.

Advantages include:

yielding robust data on the costs and shared value of the arrangements by stakeholder group;
identifying and quantifying value in all its various forms, such as value protected (through risk mitigation investments) as well as value created;
providing a basis for communicating shared value to stakeholders in the common language of dollars;
promoting an understanding of how the relevant investments drive value for stakeholders and using this information to encourage community buy-in; and,
creating a framework and a process for bridging the divide between stakeholder groups with diverse and opposing views.
Locating and quantifying coal cleats with electrical and acoustic imagers for CSG development
Authors: Yakimov Mikhail , Gan Thomas , Mazumder Saikat , Croon Marcel
Published: August 2017

CSG development often presents significant challenges in reservoir characterisation and prediction. Both gas and water production are driven by systems of interconnected or disjointed cleats; hence, a clear understanding of cleat geometry is required to optimise the prospective production and minimise the cost of drilling. Electrical and ultrasonic wellbore imagers, along with other methods, such as high-resolution wireline logging and coal coring, provide the necessary information for the in-depth cleat geometry evaluation. The models can be integrated to early production results for comparison. Processing and interpreting vast amounts of image data requires construction of robust yet flexible information solutions for data handling and visualisation. Each solution would typically involve several commercial software products, as well as some ad-hoc programming code for routine operation automation, standardised data presentations, and human-readable outputs. Based on the project example from the Surat Basin in Queensland, the report describes the development of such a solution undertaken by Arrow Energy and Weatherford International. Advantages and limitations of each particular image tool (as applicable to the typical CSG project settings) have been addressed. The project structure and standardised answer products are described in detail, along with the early interpretation results from Surat fields. The results of the project can be applied to evaluation of similar CSG prospects.
US experiences in water management of shale gas developments
Authors: Cravens Daniel
Published: August 2017

More than 1,700 drilling rigs are operating in the US, with more than half in Texas. The avid and dry Permian Basin in southwest Texas is one of the most prolific oil and gas basins in the US. Vertical drilling to depths of 4,000 m, with horizontal laterals 2,000 m, is common. The fraccing of a horizontal well requires large amounts of water. In areas that completely depend on groundwater for frac water, the demand for the resource is high. Water transport and treatment costs can threaten the viability of even the best of projects. The volume of water required for different horizontal frac operations, changes depending on the formation, frac solutions, and lateral frac distances. Discoveries are being made that have determined that larger diameter horizontal fracs are yielding more product, but they require even more water. The oil and gas industry is beginning to realise that groundwater drilling and resource management can make or break an oil and gas project. In these areas where water availability depends initially on groundwater supply, a complete understanding of the available groundwater resource is critical. Economically viable solutions can ultimately be a combination of new wells, treated water, moveable water distribution systems, mobile treatment plants, surface storage, and deep injection of brine fluids. In this extended abstract, the experiences gained on existing shale gas developments in the US are used to address specific challenges faced in Australia.
Project integrated LNG offloading availability assessment for FLNG
Authors: Kelle Holger , Santosa Mikhail , Barthelemy Anne
Published: August 2017

This extended abstract explains a combined heuristic, analytical, and probabilistic process to evaluate LNG offshore offloading availability in combination with facility uptime and commercial drivers such as LNG sales/supply contracts. The heuristic assessment is informed by facility operators’, LNGC masters’, and tug operators’ experiences in offshore offloading and berthing operations. The analytical process includes assessment of met-ocean, mooring, manoeuvrability simulation, model testing and event forecasting methods. Gaps about uncertainties for future predictions are filled by probabilistic Monte-Carlo simulations. The heuristic, analytical, and probabilistic approach, combined with commercial drivers, is put together into uptime assessment to forecast the techno-commercial performance of the facility. The uptime assessment enables:

confidence on achievable LNG throughput, the best for facility configuration and size, the best for facility location and facility’s operational expenditures;
contractual viability—for LNG supplier and gas off-taker; and,
key to terminal performance guarantee to gas off-takers. This process has been developed within INTECSEA during the past six years and has been applied to more than 15 LNG offshore offloading facilities at varying geographical locations.
This extended abstract explores the key drivers and describes the effect on those key drivers due to varying location, varying technology, or LNG sales/supply contracting strategy. The key drivers include: achievable LNG throughput, uptime, downtime, demurrage, cargo cancellation, facility downturn, and partial LNG offloading. The process described is specific to side-by-side offloading operations; however, it can also be adapted to standard jetty offloading operations and tandem offloading operations.
Wheatstone Project
Authors: Neale Ashley , Hamilton James
Published: August 2017

Background
The $29 billion Wheatstone Project is one of Australia’s largest resource projects, located 12 km west of Onslow on the Pilbara coast of WA.
Objective
NewSat was selected to provide vital communication services to the Wheatstone Project as the supplier of the Operations Satellite System to deliver remote internet, voice, video, and data services for LNG operations, OH&S compliance, backup communications, and onsite staff welfare. A project as large and complex as the Wheatstone Project required a range of solutions to overcome multiple communication challenges due to the large and varied number of users and diverse and harsh onsite weather conditions. With long standing relationships with Australian oil and gas service providers, NewSat had the reputation and experience to deliver the satellite services required.
Solution
NewSat worked closely with the Wheatstone engineering and design team to ensure the project had the best possible satellite service available and the highest amount of design options as the Project matured. The final design was a meshed satellite network, linking the onshore production facility at Onslow, the offshore platform, and the Perth head office. As a 24 x 7 x 365 operation, the project required an always-on satellite service. NewSat’s wide range of satellites provided line-of-site and satellite diversity to ensure there was no single point of failure across the satellite network. As well as providing the best infrastructure, NewSat integrated Adaptive Coding and Modulation (ACM) into the network to overcome the varying atmospheric challenges inherent in the region.
State of the nation: Australia's upstream industry in 2014
Authors: Graham Chris
Published: August 2017

Australia has emerged as a major international upstream player during the past few years. Record investment recently is set to transform Australia into one of the world’s leading gas exporters by the end of this decade. The significant unconventional oil and gas potential continues to attract major international energy companies to these shores, while exploration activity remains buoyant despite a reserves to production ratio (R/P) of more than 65 years. Australia has the resources and the skill set to remain at the forefront of the industry for years to come. Growing international competition, cost, regulatory, and productivity challenges, however, are beginning to blot the landscape for future investment of a similar scale. Drawing on the commercial challenges of operating in Australia, the author explores whether the returns of offer in Australia stack up against some of the opportunities elsewhere in the world, and what can be done to keep Australia’s resources industries competitive.
Case study: psychological and physiological problems of living in remote sites
Authors: Fernhead Terry , Kucherhan Maria , Irwin Amy
Published: August 2017

In 2009. Sodexo in partnership with Aberdeen University’s psychologists conducted a major study about worldwide oil and gas workers. This study focused on psychological and physiological aspects of living in remotes sites and degradation of health and wellbeing status: obesity, addiction, and psychological problems. It was found that these factors are related to quality of life and have an influence on the organisation with a clear link to increased turnover and absenteeism, higher overall health care costs, a potential increase in safety risk, and lower levels of employee engagement. The survey’s insights demonstrated that improving the quality of life of oil and gas workers required the design of an innovative solution for both working periods during the rotation working time and at home (the rest periods). This resulted in Sodexo developing Well Track, a program consisting of three modules:

Fit2. a dedicated coach creates a tailored wellness program for each participant—at work and at home.
Motivation: individual progress is monitored and a reward system contributes to driving their health and wellness improvements.
Home away: workers and their families benefit from a 24/7 virtual concierge service that support their work-life balance.
Well Track has been piloted with success in the North Sea with Dolphin Drling. A follow-up study by the University of Aberdeen noted measurable improvements in reported levels of exercise, healthier eating, recreation activities, and the satisfaction of workers with their health and well-being.
Rig 9 RADAR Rap: effective safety messaging with today's workforce
Authors: Law Andrew , Hill Tony
Published: August 2017

This extended abstract demonstrates a novel method of effectively getting leadership messages across to the generation and demographic of today’s workforce. In April 2012, Weatherford CSG drilling rig in Australia had a series of workplace incidents, which led to a serious injury. In May 2012, Weatherford’s Eight GEMS program including the new recognise-approach-discuss-agree-report (RADAR) reporting system began rolling out across Weatherford globally. In June 2012, the Weatherford management team visited Rig 9 as part of their ongoing commitment to safety and meeting the crews. While on site, they overheard the crew rapping RADAR to their surprise; the crew had incorporated the RADAR definitions into an entire song on their own initiative, mainly to help the younger members of the crew to get familiar with RADAR. The result was a music production team visiting Rig 9 to film and produce the rap video. This was done with consent from the operating company in shut-down conditions. This type of message and delivery of the message has been found to resonate well with today’s young(er) workforce. This has been found to be an effective (and fun) way of getting the safety message across to the people who really count. This also demonstrates the importance of making sure that the delivery of safety messages are owned-by the people who the messages are targeted at.
Nodal screw compressor failure analysis using data analytics—CSG application
Authors: Parulekar Prashant
Published: August 2017

An engine-driven oil-injected screw compressor in CSG service failed catastrophically. Instrumentation provided on the package was ineffective in predicting or detecting the failure. As part of the Root Cause Analysis (RCA) process, a statistical analysis of the logged instrument data, as measured across a period of six months prior to the failure, was carried out.
This paper uses data analytic methods to process instrument data, data visualisation techniques, advanced statistical analysis of the instrument data, and techniques to filter signal noise. The analysis recognised the multivariate behaviour and interrelationships between various operating parameters. The paper further provides insight into the interpretation of statistical measures and how to draw conclusions that explain the failure mechanism. The outcomes of the analysis presented in this paper then provided insights into establishing operating envelopes, proposed instrumentation upgrades to be provided in future and helped establish an operation and maintenance regime that should assist in preventing such failures in future.
Defining structural permeability in Australian sedimentary basins
Authors: Bailey Adam , King Rosalind , Holford Simon , Sage Joshua , Hand Martin , Backe Guillaume
Published: August 2017

Declining conventional hydrocarbon reserves have triggered exploration towards unconventional energy, such as CSG, shale gas and enhanced geothermal systems. Unconventional play viability is often heavily dependent on the presence of secondary permeability in the form of interconnected natural fracture networks that commonly exert a prime control over permeability due to low primary permeabiliy of in situ rock units. Structural permeability in the Northern Perth, SA Otway, and Northern Carnarvon basins is characterised using an integrated geophysical and geological approach combining wellbore logs, seismic attribute analysis and detailed structural geology. Integration of these methods allows for the identification of faults and fractures across a range of scales (millimetre to kilometre), providing crucial permeability information. New stress orientation data is also interpreted, allowing for stress-based predictions of fracture reactivation.
Otway Basin core shows open fractures are rarer than image logs indicate; this is due to the presence of fracture-filling siderite, an electrically conductive cement that may cause fractures to appear hydraulically conductive in image logs. Although the majority of fractures detected are favourably oriented for reactivation under in situ stresses, fracture fill primarily controls which fractures are open, demonstrating that lithological data is often essential for understanding potential structural permeability networks. The Carnarvon Basin is shown to host distinct variations in fracture orientation attributable to the in situ stress regime, regional tectonic development and local structure. A detailed understanding of the structural development, from regional-scale (hundreds of kilometres) down to local-scale (kilometres), is demonstrated to be of importance when attempting to understand structural permeability.
Oil and gas exploration in Australia in 2014—a year of extremes
Authors: Stickland Peter
Published: August 2017

In 2014, explorers in Australia experienced a range of highs and lows. There have been discoveries in new play types such as Phoenix South–1 in the Roebuck Basin, offshore WA, as well as discoveries that rejuvenate mature basins such as Seneco–3 in the onshore Perth Basin and a number of wells demonstrating unconventional gas flows in the Cooper Basin.
Exploration lows include the inevitable unsuccessful wells, the general low level of drilling activity both offshore and in some states, frustrations at approval delays and constraints—particularly in NSW and Victoria—and the sharply contracting business environment towards the end of 2014 as the oil price rapidly fell to its lowest levels in five years.
This PESA review looks in detail at the trends and highlights for oil and gas exploration both onshore and offshore Australia in 2014; not just outcomes with the drill bit, but also leading indicators such as seismic data acquisition and permit awards. It also seeks to be insightful and to make conclusions about the condition of oil and gas exploration in Australia, as well as comment on future implications for the industry.
CO2 storage capacity estimation for a deep saline formation by static reservoir modelling: the Cretaceous Paaratte Formation, offshore Otway Basin, Victoria
Authors: Qu Angie , Bunch Mark , Kaldi John
Published: August 2017

This study used stochastic simulation to estimate the CO2 storage capacity of the Cretaceous Paaratte Formation within the Casino 3D seismic survey area of the offshore Otway Basin, Victoria. Besides interpretation results from primary hard data (well data), relative acoustic impedance was used as secondary soft (proxy) data to model the distribution of the volume fraction of shale (V-Shale). The V-Shale model provided an equivalent model of lithofacies for the clastic reservoir. V-Shale correlated well with the net-to-gross and effective porosity parameters in well log interpretation results. Collocated co-kriging was then used to model the distributions of net-to-gross and effective porosity from well profiles by stochastic co-simulation processes. Using the total pore volume (TPV) obtained from this 3D modelling and storage efficiency factors defined by US DOE-NETL (2012), the potential CO2 storage capacity of the Paaratte reservoir is estimated to be between 11.94 million tonnes (P90) and 128.75 million tonnes (P10) within the geographic footprint of the Casino 3D seismic survey area. The expected TPV storage capacity (P50 confidence interval) is 46.82 million tonnes.
Seeing through the dolerite-seismic imaging of petroleum systems, Tasmania, Australia
Authors: Bendall Malcolm , Burrett Clive , Heath Paul , Stacey Andrew , Zappaterra Enzo
Published: August 2017

Prior to the onshore work of Empire Energy Corporation International (Empire) it was widely believed that the widespread sheets (>650 m thick) of Jurassic dolerite (diabase) would not only have destroyed the many potential petroleum source and reservoir rocks in the basin but would also absorb seismic energy and would be impossible to drill. By using innovative acquisition parameters, however, major and minor structures and formations can be identified on the 1,149 km of 2D Vibroseis. Four Vibroseis trucks were used with a frequency range of 6–140 Hz with full frequency sweeps close together, thereby achieving maximum input and return signal.
Potential reservoir and source rocks may be seismically mapped within the Gondwanan Petroleum System (GPS) of the Carboniferous to Triassic Parmeener Supergroup in the Tasmania Basin. Evidence for a working GPS is from a seep of migrated, Tasmanite-sourced, heavy crude oil in fractured dolerite and an oil-bearing breached reservoir in Permian siliciclastics.
Empire’s wells show that each dolerite sheet consists of several intrusive units and that contact metamorphism is usually restricted to within 70 m of the sheets’ lower margins. In places, there are two thick sheets, as on Bruny Island. One near-continuous 6,500 km2 sheet is mapped seismically across central Tasmania and is expected, along with widespread Permian mudstones, to have acted as an excellent regional seal.
The highly irregular pre-Parmeener unconformity can be mapped across Tasmania and large anticlines (Bellevue and Thunderbolt prospects and Derwent Bridge Anticline) and probable reefs can be seismically mapped beneath this unconformity within the Ordovician Larapintine Petroleum System. Two independent calculations of mean undiscovered potential (or prospective) resources in structures defined so far by Empire’s seismic surveys are 596.9 MMBOE (millions of barrels of oil equivalent) and 668.8 MMBOE.
Improving the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing treatment in CBM reservoirs by stimulating the surrounding natural fracture system
Authors: Keshavarz Alireza , Badalyan Alexander , Johnson Raymond , Bedrikovetski Pavel
Published: August 2017

A method is proposed for enhancing the conductivity of micro-fractures and cleats around the hydraulically induced fractures in coal bed methane reservoirs. In this technique, placing ultra-fine proppant particles in natural fractures and cleats around hydraulically induced fractures at leak-off conditions keeps the coal cleats open during water-gas production, and this consequently increases the efficiency of hydraulic fracturing treatment.
Experimental and mathematical studies for the stimulation of a natural cleat system around the main hydraulic fracture are conducted. In the experimental part, core flooding tests are performed to inject a flow of suspended particles inside the natural fractures of a coal sample. By placing different particle sizes and evaluating the concentration of placed particles, an experimental coefficient is found for optimum proppant placement in which the maximum permeability is achieved after proppant placement.
In the mathematical modelling study, a laboratory-based mathematical model for graded proppant placement in naturally fractured rocks around a hydraulically induced fracture is proposed. Derivations of the model include an exponential form of the pressure-permeability dependence and accounts for permeability variation in the non-stimulated zone. The explicit formulae are derived for the well productivity index by including the experimentally found coefficient.
Particle placement tests resulted in an almost three-times increase in coal permeability. The laboratory-based mathematical modelling, as performed for the field conditions, shows that the proposed method yields around a six-times increase in the productivity index.