Unconventional resource drilling activity: Low since the fall in the price of oil in late 2014. Explorers have accelerated appraisal of Cooper Basin unconventional plays since the first exploration well to test these plays was drilled in 2010 (Table 6.2). Following on from 19 vertical wells to test unconventional gas plays in 2012 and 2014, 4 wells were drilled during 2015 (Table 6.2). Due to the downturn in drilling in the basin in the last 18 months there has been little unconventional (or even conventional) activity on the South Australia side of the boarder. Year No. of Wells Drilled 2010 2 2011 2 2012 13 2013 13 2014 6 2015 4 Source: Department of State Development, South Australia () Table 6.3. Number of wells targeting natural gas in unconventional reservoirs, South Australia. Commentary: Exploration drilling activity in the Cooper Basin has slowed markedly as a result of the global downturn in the industry because of the significant drop in the oil price. As a result, the main players in the Cooper have significantly reduced their operational expenditures. This significantly impacts the drilling activity levels. Over 800 fracture stimulations have been undertaken in the South Australian part of the Cooper Basin since production commenced in 1969. Some of these stimulations were in low permeability (tight) sandstones in the REM and Patchawarra Formation sequence that contain the shale gas and coal seam gas resources. Better than expected well performance suggests that these wells have been producing from the unconventional reservoirs adjacent to the tight sands. Refer to table 6.2 for estimates of in-place resource volumes in unconventional reservoirs in the Cooper Basin across South Australia and Queensland. Potential exists in other bsisn – but less data is available to underpin estimates With regard to the timing of production, although three unconventional wells (Moomba 191, 193H and 194) have been producing for over two years, no reserves for unconventional petroleum have been reported in South Australia. It is unlikely that substantial volumes of gas from this resource will be available to the gas market in the short term. Beach reduced contingent resources associated with its operated unconventional gas acreage in the Cooper Basin to nil, indicating the NTNG project is unlikely to be developed commercially in the medium term due to the high costs of the project and the low gas price environment means.
Horn Valley Siltstone Producing Stairway Sandstone Producing Eromanga Basin Toolebuc Formation Inactive Oodnadatta Formation Inactive Pedirka Basin Peera Peera Formation Inactive Purni Formation Preliminary exploration Ngalia Basin Mount Eclipse Sandstone Inactive Wiso Basin Montejinni Limestone Inactive Table 8.1: Northern Territory unconventional resource potential Reserves/Resources: TOTAL PETROLEUM INITIALLY-IN-PLACE (PIIP) DISCOVERED PIIP COMMERCIAL PRODUCTION RESERVES 1P RESERVES 2P RESERVES 3P CONTINGENT RESOURCES 1C CONTINGENT RESOURCES 2C CONTINGENT RESOURCES 3C UNRECOVERABLE UNDISCOVERED PIIP PROSPECTIVE RESOURCES Low Estimate: 8 626 PJ PROSPECTIVE RESOURCES Best Estimate: 275 211 PJ PROSPECTIVE RESOURCES High Estimate: 351 054 PJ UNRECOVERABLE Source: Munson (2014), , NT DPIR 2016, EnergyNT 2015 Table 8.2: Northern Territory unconventional resources Production/Forecasts: None Unconventional resource drilling activity: The number of wells drilled for unconventional resource exploration since 2011 are shown in Table 8.3 and Figure 8.1 Year No. of Wells Drilled