CONCERNS are mounting that Australia's offshore gas reserves are entering a period of terminal decline following a lack of drilling in recent years. Australian analyst EnergyQuest says that data show proven and probable offshore gas reserves have decreased by 24 in just five years to 62,312 petajoules (58.7 trillion cubic feet). "This is the inevitable consequence of little offshore exploration in a country that exports more LNG than any other nation," it maintains. Final investment decisions at Barossa and Scarborough this year should reverse most of that decline, "but they will not halt the downward trend", which the company chalks up to "the consequences of a poor national effort in offshore exploration over the past five years". EnergyQuest says offshore gas reserves "may have already entered a period of terminal decline".
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