AUSTRALIA may have lost its lustre as a destination for frontier offshore exploration, but there is still some excitement to come this year thanks to Santos in the Dorado oilfield area. Offshore exploration spending in Australia plummeted in 2020, down 55% from 2019 to A$355.2 million, according to Ener-gyQuest. The number of new discoveries could be counted on a couple of fingers - Beach Energy's Artisan and Enterprise finds in south-east Australia's Otway basin. Covid-19 was certainly a factor but the downward spiral began some years ago. There have been too many high-profile dry wells, like Woodside's Achernar-1, BP's Ironbark-1, and ExxonMobil's three deep-water wells in Bass Strait, and there has been a low take-up of new offshore exploration acreage. BP, Chevron and Equinor withdrew from the Great Australian Bight before drilling even began, and many of the majors are moving away from frontier exploration.
展开▼
